Fire and Ice
by Sage Londyn
Summary: Colab with Miss E Charlotte- When sisters Nora and Imogen start their junior year, they are both hoping for a fun/drama free year. But as the towns secrets begin to unravel, it turns their entire lives upside down. With Nora getting closer to the older Salvatore and Imogen finding herself torn between 2 boys, the sisters have way more on their plates than they ever imagined...
1. Fire and Ice

**Fire and Ice**

_**~A/N – This is a collaborative piece written by myself and my very good friend Miss E Charlotte.~**_

* * *

Nora leaned down and tied her orange converse shoes, and took one last look in the mirror. She was wearing a pair of dark turquoise skinny jeans, and a lime green tank top under a cut and cropped Ramones band t-shirt.

Grabbing her book back from the foot of her bed she took a deep breath and slung the strap over her shoulder, saying a little prayer that after all the summer drama she'd have a normal first day of school.

Sliding her phone into her pocket, and grabbing her iPod and ear buds from her nightstand she stole one more glance in the mirror, and scrunched her blond hair to give it some volume as she headed down the stairs.

Opening the door she saw her sister loading her own book bag into her car.

"Hey Nora… you want a ride?" Imogen asked, surveying her sisters bold color choices for the first day of school.

"I… uh… I don't really think so." Nora said, feeling a little color drain from her cheeks as she spoke.

"You sure… I don't know if you'll make it on time walking." Imogen offered.

"I…just… I can't do it. I'm not ready to get in a car." Nora admitted, insecurely crossing an arm over her stomach and holding onto her the strap from her shoulder bag.

"Okay…I'm gonna head out then. See you at school." Imogen said, taking one more look at her sister before getting into her car and driving away.

With her iPod playing Evanescence, she paused at the end of her driveway and look down the street to her friend Elena Gilbert's house. She had meant to wake up early enough to call her before school, but like always her finger was attached to the snooze button.

She was barely 5 minutes into her walk when she felt like someone was watching her.

Looking behind her she didn't see anyone, her eyes scanned the windows of the surrounding houses but her search didn't reveal any watchers.

Ignoring the feeling she lowered the volume on her music some and continued on her walk.

Soon she was over came by the uneasy feeling that she was being followed.

Doing another visual check of her surroundings she felt even more uncomfortable when she still couldn't see anyone.

Giving up on her music, she stopped walking and tucked the iPod into her book bag.

Hearing a noise she spun around and saw a guy standing in the middle of the sidewalk a ways back from her.

Putting a hand above her eyes to block out the early morning sun and get a better look at him, her green eyes squinted trying to see if she knew him from school.

The strangers blue eyes came alive as he watched her from a distance also. His dark hair shined in the harsh morning light, and she thought to herself it was too warm for the leather jacket he was wearing.

Dismissing the idea that she knew him, she turned and started on her walk again, only to be stopped again when a quick glance over her shoulder revealed he was still in pursuit of her.

Tucking her blond hair behind her ear she looked in front of her before turning back around to see he had finally left.

There were no cars on the street, and he hadn't gone into any of the houses. It was as if he had just disappeared.

Impossible, she thought. But even though he was gone, the uneasiness accompanied her the rest of the way to school.

**~{([~])}~**

Many minutes later, Imogen pulled her black BMW convertible into the school parking lot. After shutting off the car, she reached into the back seat to grab her back bag then exited the car.

She smoothed out the dark green silk tank top she was wearing as she walked across the parking lot. Making sure her brand new light denim skirt was also free of winkles.

As she got closer to the school building, she glanced off to the side and smiled when she saw her boyfriend, Cole Thompson, sitting at one of the many wooden picnic tables with one of his friends/football buddies. Unfortunately for her, that friend happened to be Tyler Lockwood.

Imogen tried her best to pretend Tyler wasn't there, as she sat beside Cole. She leaned forward to give him a quick kiss before calling out a friendly greeting at him, still ignoring Tyler, who was sitting across from her.  
Cole shot her a smirk as he checked her out, he had to admit, he did good with this one.

Imogen was one of the most popular girls at school, which was important to him. He had to be seen with the best and she was the best. She was the ultimate all-american girl with her blue eyes and straight blond hair. In his opinion, no one in the school looked better than her, which was why he kept her around.  
"Hey Gen." Tyler said to her, causing her to roll her eyes. He was the only one who called her that and mainly because he knew she hated it.  
"Hey Tyler." Imogen said back, as she continued to look at her boyfriend, refusing to look at Tyler.

"Where's Nora?" Tyler asked her, then added before she could answer, "let me guess, she's walking to school."  
Imogen glanced over at him then said, "not that it's any of your business, but yes she is."  
Tyler chuckled then asked, "when is she going to get over that little thing of hers? It's been years, get over it."  
"Nice Ty. Now I can see why she dumped your ass." Imogen said back sarcastically.

"I thought you said you dumped her?" Cole asked, as he looked at his friend with his trademark smirk on his face.  
"I did." Tyler snapped back.  
"Aw did Tyler the heartbreaker get his heartbroken by some chick?" Cole teased him.  
"It wasn't like that man like I told you before, she was nothing but an easy lay." Tyler pointed out.  
"That's my sister you're talking about, asshole." Imogen snapped, as she picked up a crumbled piece of paper from the table and threw it at him.

"I didn't say she was bad in bed, she was actually really good." Tyler said, as he stood up from the table with a grin.

As she scoffed at his comment, he added, "and from the way I hear it, so are you."  
"Which is something you'll never find out." Imogen called out, as he begin to walk away laughing.  
Once Tyler was gone, she turned to Cole with an angry expression on her face as she said, "please don't tell me you've been talking about our sex life with him."  
Cole shrugged like it was no big deal then said, "you know how guys are, we talk about that stuff. He's told me things about Nora and I had to say something back."  
"You didn't have to say anything back." Imogen pointed out.  
"Look, he and the other guys look up to me, I had to say something." Cole said.

"Other guys?" Imogen asked confused.  
"Yeah, the guys on the team." Cole answered.  
"You told the whole football team how I am in bed?" Imogen asked shocked. She couldn't believe he would talk about their personal business with everyone.  
"I said you were great in bed, it's not like I insulted you or something. What's the big deal?" Cole asked.  
"The big problem is what we do, is not anyone business." Imogen pointed out.

Cole shrugged again, still not understanding what the big deal is, causing her to scoff and roll her eyes as she stood up and went to walk away. She had only taken a few steps when Cole jumped up and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from taking another step.  
"Where the hell are you going?" Cole asked, then added angrily, "don't you ever walk away from me."  
"You're hurting me Cole." Imogen whimpered, as he began to held on to her wrist tightly.

"Stop your little bitch fit and sit down." Cole hissed, as he pulled her back toward him.  
Imogen opened her mouth to apologize, she should have known better than to walk away from him. How many times had he told her that since they had been dating?

But before she could say a word, she heard her best friend Caroline Forbes calling out her name. In a flash the angry look disappeared from Cole's face and he loosen his grip on her wrist as Caroline got closer to them.

"You two just cannot keep your hands off of each other can you." Caroline teased them, as she stood in front of them.  
"What can I say? I love this girl." Cole said, as he wrapped his arms around Imogen's waist and pulled her toward him. As he softly kissed her forehead, she closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry. She didn't want Caroline to know there was a problem, besides she knew her tears were something else that angered him.  
"Well I need to borrow your girlfriend." Caroline said, as she lightly grabbed Imogen's arm and begin to walk away.  
"See you later babe." Cole called out happily, keeping the 'perfect boyfriend' facade going.  
"Bye." Imogen said softly, as Caroline continued to pull her away.

A few seconds later, as the two girls walked into the school building, Caroline sighed then said, "you are so lucky."  
"Why?" Imogen asked confused.  
"You have the perfect life." Caroline answered, then added, "you have everything you could ever want. You're popular; you're got the perfect family and perfect boyfriend. Everything is perfect."  
"Right. Perfect." Imogen mumbled. If only she knew how things really were.

**~{([~])}~**

After dropping some extra notebooks off in her locker Nora headed towards her first class when she saw her sister with Elena and Bonnie.

She had always been friendly with them, but it wasn't until over the summer she had started to be accepted into their group.

"What are we all talking about?" Nora asked, smiling as she walked up to the trio.

"Nora! Wow… you look… colorful. Very colorful!" Caroline exclaimed, looking Nora's outfit over.

"I think you look good." Elena offered with a friendly smile.

"Thank you." Nora said, returning the smile.

"We are talking about the hot new guy." Bonnie filled her in.

"Hot new guy? Too bad I was late." Nora joked.

"Yeah, speaking of… what took you so long to get here?" Imogen asked, knowing her sister should have been to school a lot earlier.

"I… took a detour…" Nora said, stumbling over her words. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't want to tell them about her creepy encounter before school.

"Weird… but okay, I guess." Imogen said, not believing her half-sister but not wanting to call her out in front of their friends.

"So, hot new guy? What does he look like?" Nora asked, quickly changing the subject.

"You can't miss him." Caroline exclaimed before leaving the group to head to class.

"We'll see you guys later…" Bonnie called, as she and Elena headed towards their first class.

"Everything okay?" Nora asked, seeing her sisters smile fall once their friends were gone.

"Yeah… just first day jitters…" Imogen said.

"Would this have anything to do with your ass boyfriend?" Nora questioned.

"He's not… that bad…" Imogen defended as she stopped at her locker.

Leaning up against the locker beside her Nora said, "Right… and me and Tyler weren't just using each other for sex…"

Closing her locker frustrated Imogen said, "Care was right, you did make a very colorful choice in clothes."

"Ouch." Nora said, playfully acting offended.

Sighing Imogen said, 'I'm sorry Nora… I just say the wrong things to Cole. I know how to get under his skin and…" her voice trailed off.

"It's so not your fault." Nora said, as they continued their walk.

"Speaking of jerk boyfriends, err in your case I guess jerk ex-boyfriends. Tyler asked about you this morning." Imogen said warning her sister.

"I don't care." Nora said, looking down to her orange shoes.

"It's okay to be bummed… you guys were on and off for almost 2 years." Imogen said.

"No it's not okay. We just… couldn't get things right, you know? I wanted it to work with him, but I guess we were both just using the other one and I finally decided I didn't want to be used anymore. I should be ecstatic! Starting off my junior year and I'm single… free to live it up." Nora said, managing a small but weak smile.

"This is your stop." Imogen said, as they stopped outside of the chemistry room.

"Sorry…. Oh hey Gen." Tyler said as he pushed his way between the sisters.

"Nora." He said, with a nod and a wink, before walking in the room.

"Oh my god, did that really just happen?" Nora asked her eyes wide.

"I'm going to have to see him every morning!" she continued.

"Be strong." Imogen said as she leaned in and hugged her before heading a few doors down to her class.

Walking into the room Nora looked at the chalk board.

It said for the class to split into two even groups, seeing Tyler already in a group she chose the other one. Regretting her decision when the teacher then informed them that they would be paired up with a lab partner for the semester and the group opposite of hers would be choosing their partners.

Looking around her group, Nora breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw Tyler's best friend Matt. She thought for sure he'd pick his friend over her.

"Mr. Lockwood, pick you're lab partner." The teacher said when it got to him.

"I choose… Nora Foster." He said, smirking at her.

Nodding the teacher pointed towards a table.

Nora didn't move.

"Nora, have a seat." The teacher told her.

"I think he got confused. He clearly meant to pick Matt." Nora said, raising her eyebrows.

"Have a seat, Miss Foster. I won't ask you again." The teacher said, before pointing the next set of partners to their seats.

* * *

**~{([~])}~|~{([~])}~**

**A/N**_** – We'd like to take a few moments to thank you all for reading! This is our first collaboration together. ^_^ We hope you are having as much reading it as we are writing it!**_

_**Also, don't forget to check out Miss E Charlotte's fanfiction page! She's got some awesome stories for The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and even a new Teen Wolf Story. ^_-**_

_**We will be making banners to go along with this story, you can find them and more at SageLondyn . polyvore . com and at MissECharlotte . polyvore . com**_

**Please take a few moments to leave us a few lines in a review and let us know what you are thinking so far! We appreciate it so much!**


	2. Crystal Ball

**Crystal Ball**

_**~A/N – This is a collaborative piece written by myself and my very good friend Miss E Charlotte.~**_

* * *

Later that night was the big back to school party at the Falls and all the school was showing up, even the Foster sisters.

After changing out of her school clothes she had finally decided on her nicest pair of jeans with a red tank top. Knowing how cold Mystic Falls could get when the sun goes down, she topped off her outfit with a cropped fleece jacket. She stopped by her body length mirror to admire the brand new pair of zebra print heels she was wearing.

Her eyes then traveled up to the top of her mirror where a zebra print scarf she had borrowed from Nora was hanging. It was the perfect finishing touch on her put together outfit. Imogen left her bedroom and made her way down the stairs.

As she stepped off the last step, she heard the doorbell ringing and made her way toward the front door. She couldn't help but smile when she opened the door and saw a big bouquet of flowers being held by Cole. There were red roses, pink mini carnations and white daisies, all of her favorites.

"Wow, those are beautiful." Imogen gushed out, causing Cole to poke his head around the flowers and grin at her.

"Not as beautiful as you though." Cole said, as he handed her the flowers.

"Thank you, but you didn't have to get me flowers." Imogen pointed out, as she begin to walk toward the kitchen to put the flowers in water.

"I know." Cole agreed, as he followed her into the other room. Then added,"I just wanted to apologize for losing it this morning, but you know how I can get when you push me and when you starting walking away..."

"I know, I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." Imogen said interrupting him. She placed the flowers into a clear vase then sat it on the counter as she added,"it's just Tyler was pissing me off and I took it out on you."

"You shouldn't let him get to you." Cole pointed out.

Imogen nodded her head in agreement, she knew he was right, but after everything her sister Nora had been through, she was a little protective of her and hated how Tyler had treated her. Of course Nora was no saint in that relationship either, but she was her sister so she was going to let that slide.

"Plus I was just uh, I was just a little surprised to hear that you told everyone about us sleeping together." Imogen pointed out carefully, not wanting to cause another fight. She just felt like that should be private and just for them. She didn't want the whole school to know she lost her virginity to him over the summer.

Cole sighed, he couldn't believe she was still turning this into a big deal. "Look I told you it's not a big deal. We're both popular, we're like high school royalty, everyone wants to know our every move. Would you rather me tell everyone the truth about what is going on or have everyone make up lies and spread that around?"

"I didn't think of it that way." Imogen said softly. She still didn't really agree, she would rather people stay out of her business, but he did have a small point. People at school were always watching her every move, wanted to know what she was doing so they could copy her. Every girl wanted to be her and every guy wanted to do her. That was just the curse of being popular.

Cole took a step toward her and laid his hands on her hips then he flashed her a smile as he asked,"so can we drop all of this and just go out and have fun?"

"Yeah. Let's go have fun." Imogen agreed, as she gave him a small smile.

"That's my girl." Cole said smiling before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers for a soft kiss.

"Hey... oh sorry. Didn't know you two were busy." Nora said, as she walked into the room, interrupting them. She placed her hand over her eyes then said,"I was just coming to say I was heading to the party."

"You're not walking to the party Nora. It's to dark and creepy outside." Imogen argued.

"Yeah, you're riding with us." Cole added, as he looked over at the other girl. Even if he had been dating Imogen for the last few years, he didn't stop himself from checking out her sister. If Nora had not been such a freak when she moved in with Imogen and their Dad, he might had went after her, but instead he went after the few months younger Imogen. But he had to admit Nora was coming around, over the summer something changed in her, she ended her toxic relationship with Tyler, begin to dress a little differently and hanging around with Elena and the rest of the popular girls.

"It's just Mystic Falls… I think I'll be fine walking to the party.' Nora argued.

"Come on, Nora. It's already dark out and we're running late." Imogen said.

"Fine." Nora breathed out, trying to keep calm even though she felt like she was on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Cool, let's go." Cole said, pulling his keys from his pocket and leading the way to the door.

**((()))**

Many minutes later, Imogen and Cole were walking hand in hand through the huge crowd with Nora bringing up the rear. Within seconds of arriving, all three had a beer in their hands without having to ask for one. That was one of the perks of being popular, people went out of their way to get things for you without you having to utter a word.

After locating his friends, who were standing off to the side, Cole begin to walk toward them. He expected Imogen to follow along behind him like usual, but when he didn't hear her behind him, he turned around with a annoyed look on his face as he saw her standing still with Nora beside her. He had a feeling she was about to piss him off and he was right.

"What are you doing?" Cole asked her.

"Nora and I were going to go look for our friends." Imogen answered nervously, hoping to not set him off.

She knew he hated it when she didn't follow along behind him, but sometimes she liked to go off and do her own thing instead of following along behind him like a dog.

"We'll find them later. Now come on, the boys are over here." Cole said, as he grabbed her hand and nodded his head toward his friends.

Nora grabbed Imogen's other hand then suggested,"Why don't you go with your boys and we'll go on our own."

Cole took a deep breath and tried to control his anger, he hated when someone went against him, which was another reason he and Nora never would have worked, she had too big of a mouth on her.

"I mean that is ok right? If me and my sister go talk to our friends?" Nora asked, baiting him. She knew he was a bit jealous and possessive toward Imogen, and maybe if she could get him to snap she could show Imogen how bad he was for her then she could dump him once and for all. It wasn't the best plan Nora ever had, but it was the only plan she had at the moment.

"Of course." Cole said, as calmly as he could while he tightened his grip on Imogen's hand, squeezing her fingers.

Imogen bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out then said softly,"No, it's ok. I'll go with you."

"No, go with your sister." Cole snapped, as he pushed Imogen roughly toward Nora.

Nora quickly wrapped her arms around Imogen, keeping her from falling to the ground, then shot Cole a dirty look, which he never noticed as he turned around without another word and walked over toward his friends.

"You shouldn't have done that." Imogen said to Nora, as soon as they

were alone.

"You're right, I shouldn't have done it. You should have done it." Nora said, then added,"you got to stop letting him boss you around sis."

"It's not that big of a deal." Imogen argued, then said,"besides I don't let him boss me around, I'm just choosing my battles. Some things are not worth fighting over."

Nora opened her mouth to argue but before she could say a word, Caroline walked over toward the two sisters while calling out a happy greeting and giving them a quick hug. After the hug, Caroline noticed the expressions on the two girls faces then asked,"did I interrupt something?"

"No everything is fine." Imogen said, as she shot them a smile, trying to show them that everything was ok. The last thing she wanted was to argue with her sister, she just wanted to cut loose and have fun.

Speaking of fun, she quickly turned up the bottle of beer in her hand and drank it all in one swallow. Then she grabbed the red cup full of liquor out of Caroline's hand and took a big swallow.

"Whoa Imogen. Slow down." Caroline said laughing, as she took the cup back from her friend.

"Care's right, you need to slow down." Nora said, as she nodded her head in agreement. At one point she herself use to drink a lot. Back when she use to hang out with Vicki Donovan and her friends, but now she was more of a casual drinker, she knew her limits while Imogen did not.

"Just cause your Mom is dead, doesn't mean you have to act like one to me cause the last time I checked, my Mom is still alive and I don't need another one." Imogen snapped at Nora without thinking, already feeling the effect of drinking too much too soon.

"Fine. Do whatever you want." Nora said, as she threw up her hands in surrender before turning around and walking away. Imogen opened her mouth to call out to her, but she was too late.

"Wow, that was harsh." Caroline said, pointing out the obvious.

"I can't believe I just said that." Imogen said, as she ran a hand through her blond hair, instantly feeling guilty.

"You should go talk to her." Caroline suggested, then smiled when she saw someone over Imogen's shoulder.

"Yeah, you're right." Imogen agreed.

"Go do that now. Go!" Caroline said, as she pushed Imogen toward the direction Nora had went.

Imogen turned her head, confused on why Caroline wanted to get rid of her so quick until she saw Caroline walking over to the new guy Stefan.

Imogen shook her head and chuckled, she should not have been surprised to see Caroline going after the new guy, although she was surprised to see him turn Caroline down and walk away.

She made a note to herself to check with Caroline later to see what happened, but for now, she owed someone a huge apology.

**((()))**

Nora look down at her hot pink leggings under a short dark denim skirt, she had on a pair of boots and a black tank top on under a soft green hoodie with multi colored skull and crossbones all over it.

"Hey Bonnie! Hey Elena!" Nora said as she walked over to them putting a smile on her face even though her sisters words had really stung her.

"Hey!" They both said smiling at her.

It was only moments later when Imogen joined them.

"Nora, I'm really sorry… I just… I didn't mean what I said at all." Imogen said, looking at her half-sister.

"Whatever, it's true. My mom is dead and yours is alive, so please sis feel free to go live it up." Nora said, as she took a long drink from the beer bottle in her hand.

"I am really sorry.' Imogen repeated.

"Don't worry about it." Nora said, looking into the fire they were standing around.

"Is your bottle empty?" Bonnie questioned.

Drinking the last few drops Nora said, "Yeah, why?"

"Give it here… it's our makeshift crystal ball." Bonnie said, trying to lighten the moment.

"Are you going to tell our futures?" Elena asked, smiling.

Bonnie nodded.

"Who wants to go first?" Bonnie asked them.

When no one else spoke up Imogen said, "I will."

As both Bonnie and Imogen held onto the glass bottle, Bonnie closed her eyes in concentration.

"I see you… making out with a football player." Bonnie said, opening her eyes and looking around.

Her gaze stopped at Cole and Tyler talking and standing beside the cooler of beer.

"Duh!" Imogen exclaimed, with a playful eye roll.

"Alright, Nora… your turn." Bonnie said, holding the bottle out towards her.

Imogen couldn't help but laugh as she saw her sister with her eyes closed seeming as focused as Bonnie was, she knew Nora had always been a believer in the supernatural. But she was a skeptic herself.

"I see… a mysterious and dark stranger… and crows." Bonnie said opening her eyes confused.

"Oh my god! That is so freaky!" Nora exclaimed.

"What? Why?" Bonnie asked.

"Well, I didn't say anything at school but I was late because there was this mysterious stranger with dark hair following me. And then after school when I was trying to figure out what to wear tonight, a crow landed on my window sill and just watched me for the longest time!" Nora admitted.

"It's a coincidence. You probably just forgot you had mentioned to it Bonnie or something." Imogen brushed it off.

"She didn't tell me anything. I got something else, but I don't want to freak you out." Bonnie said.

"Spill." Elena and Nora both said at the same time.

"I just got the feeling like… I don't know, like that uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach when you know there's some sort of danger right around the corner. Just be careful." Bonnie warned.

Nora nodded.

"I'm not so sure I want you to do mine now." Elena joked as she reached out and held onto the bottle.

As soon as Elena's and Bonnie's hands were both on the bottle. Bonnie gasped and jumped back.

"Whats wrong?" Elena asked.

"That was weird." Bonnie said.

"What are you talking about?"Elena asked her.

'When I touched you I just felt overwhelmed by… lifelessness. Just a… dead, blank feeling." Bonnie said, with a shiver.

Elena's smile fell.

"You know what… I'm drunk! I've been drinking… it's the booze nothing psychic about it." Bonnie offered the explanation to her friend.

"I'm gonna get a refill," Nora said. As she wandered away from the group.

She found a cooler of beers and opened another one.

"Better slow down Nora, you know how you get when you've been drinking…" Tyler said, as he walked up to her.

"Oh god. What? Sentencing me as your lab partner all semester isn't enough. You have to stalk me outside of school to? Nora asked, as she opened and took a drink from the bottle.

"Stalk you? Come on, we both know I could have any girl here that I wanted." Tyler pointed out, as he took the beer from her a took a drink of the bottle.

Handing the bottle back he smirked at her.

"By all means… go, Find your whore of the night and have fun Tyler." Nora said, motioning around them with the bottle.

"Come on Nora, we all know playing hard to get isn't really your thing." Tyler said.

"What we had was a disaster of a relationship… we were at each others throats all the time, That's no way to live." Nora pointed out.

"But we had our good times… as I recall some pretty amazing times." He said, as he looked her up and down.

She felt her cheeks darken a little.

"Don't you want more Tyler? Don't you want to find someone who cares about you and isn't just using you for sex?" Nora asked.

"Not really." He admitted.

"Well I do.' She said.

"You know… Gen's looking pretty hot tonight." Tyler said, knowing it would get under her skin.

Her mouth dropped open.

"Enjoy the party, Nora." Tyler said, as he reached past her, purposely rubbing his body against hers as he grabbed a bottle of beer before walking off.

She had wanted to say something mean to him, have one of those epic comebacks that would put him to shame… but she was at a loss for words.

With her bottle of beer in hand she made her way into the woods, just wanting some air and to get away from everyone

She had been walking for about 5 minutes when she heard a twig snap behind her.

Gasping she whirled around to see Jeremy.

"Oh my god Jer, you just scared the hell out of me!" Nora said, with a hand over her heart as she tried to catch her breath.

"That wasn't me." He admitted as he looked around.

"Right." Nora said, laughing as she rolled her eyes.

"No, Nora I'm not kidding! I followed you into the woods because I was going to sneak up and scare you… but that wasn't me." He said as he walked up and stood beside her.

Just then the pair saw a shadow dart between some trees.

"Oh my god… did you see that?" Nora breathed out, her voice shaky.

"Come on… we should get back to the party." Jeremy said, but his legs wouldn't move.

"Shh.. do you hear that?" Nora asked, as she heard some voices.

"Cole! Stop it! Not here, not like this!" She heard her sisters voice pleading.

"Is that Imogen?" Jeremy asked.

Without a word Nora dropped her beer on the ground and ran towards the direction her sisters voice was coming from with Jeremy right on her heels.

"Get off her!" Nora shrieked as she pushed Cole sideways. After seeing he had her sister pinned against a tree.

"Nora."Imogen cried as she stepped away from the tree.

"Come on Imogen, it's okay." Nora said as she reached forwards and grabbed her sisters hand.

"Man what the hell is wrong with you?" Jeremy yelled, looking at Cole.

"Screw off freak! Go paint your nails black and mind your own damn business." Cole growled.

Nora pushed Imogen towards Jeremy, and started behind them when Cole roughly grabbed her arm and pulled her backwards.

"You need to keep your nose out of my business, Nora." Cole said, angrily at her.

"My sister is my business." Nora said, standing her ground.

"It doesn't matter how hot you are… I don't know how Tyler put up with you. I think you need to be taught a lesson." Cole said.

Nora looked behind him to see that Jeremy and Imogen were already gone, a part of her was glad they got out okay but another part of her was afraid now that she was alone with him.

"Screw off." Nora snapped, as she started to walk past him back to the party when he grabbed her arm again and pulled her back so hard she stumbled and lost her balance.

"Stupid bitch…" Cole said shaking his head as he walked towards her.

"What are you doing? Get away from me!" Nora yelled, as she scooted back on the ground away from him as he approached her.

Just then she saw Cole's face change, as he looked behind her.

She saw his expression go from hate, to a look of almost fear before he turn and jogged off back towards the party.

Nora had the uneasy feeling again like someone was behind her.

Jumping to feet and spinning around she saw the same man as before when she was on her way to school.

"You!" She said, her eyes wide.

"Me?" He questioned, smirking at her.

"You… were following me before school." Nora pointed out.

"Who says I'm still not following you?" He asked, his head cocked to the side.

She watched his face closely, and breathed a small sigh of relief when his lips broke into a smile. But it wasn't exactly a friendly smile, it was a smile that seemed to be hiding something.

"Well, I think if you're following me… you at least owe me your name." Nora said.

"Damon." He said.

She nodded.

"I'm…" She started to introduce herself.

"Nora Foster… I know." He said, his eyes intense as he spoke.

"There you go… getting all creepy again…' Nora said, with a nervous laugh.

"Nora! Nora!" Jeremy yelled as he ran back into the woods.

When Nora looked back to where Damon was standing, she was shocked to see he was gone.

"Hey! What happened to you? I got Imogen out, turned around and your were gone… Oh my god!" Jeremy said, as he looked past Nora to the side.

"Vicki!' Nora yelled as she turned to see Vicki Donovan bleeding and unconscious on the ground.

**~{([~])}~|~{([~])}~**

**A/N**_** – We'd like to take a few moments to thank you all for reading! This is our first collaboration together. ^_^ We hope you are having as much reading it as we are writing it!**_

_**Also, don't forget to check out Miss E Charlotte's fanfiction page! She's got some awesome stories for The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and even a couple Teen Wolf Stories. ^_-**_

_**We will be making banners to go along with this story, you can find them and more at SageLondyn . polyvore . com and at MissECharlotte . polyvore . com**_

**Please take a few moments to leave us a few lines in a review and let us know what you are thinking so far! We appreciate it so much!**


	3. Lies and Spies

**Lies and Spies**

_**~A/N – This is a collaborative piece written by myself and my very good friend Miss E Charlotte.~**_

* * *

After finding Vicki Donovan passed out and bleeding in the woods, the party was officialy over. Most of the teenagers left, not wanting to get caught by the cops, while Nora quickly called for help on her cellphone.

Once the paramedics showed up to help Vicki, Imogen appeared by Nora's side, telling her they needed to leave before their Dad, Jason, who was a cop, showed up and busted them. Imogen could not get caught drinking again; she was on her final warning.

As much as Nora hated to leave, seeing as how Vicki use to be her closest friend at one point, she knew Imogen was right, they needed to get out of the woods before they got caught.

Which was why they were now sitting in a booth at Mystic Grill with Bonnie and Caroline, as Imogen drank plenty of coffee to try and sober up before all the girls returned home.

As Caroline and Imogen gossiped, which is what the two girls always did when they were together, Nora took a sip of water from her glass then glanced at her cellphone with a sigh.

Bonnie, hearing her sigh, looked at Nora who was sitting across from her then asked "Any news on Vicki yet?"

"No. Matt said he'll text me with a update as soon as he hears something." Nora answered sadly, feeling worried about the girl.

Caroline, who was sitting beside Bonnie and heard the two talking, stop mid-sentence with her story to Imogen as she looked over at the two girls who wore similar worried expressions then said "Don't tell me you two are actually worried about Vicki. She probably just drank too much and passed out. Girls like that always do things like this for attention."

Nora scoffed and looked at Caroline in surprise, although she shouldn't have been surprised by the comment. That was just the way Caroline was. Like Imogen, Caroline was the pretty, popular, cheerleader who looked down on certain people.

Vicki being one of those people since she was the troublemaker from the wrong side of town.

"She wasn't just drunk Caroline. She was bleeding, something bit her." Nora said back.

"Or maybe she just fell and cut herself." Imogen suggested.

"No, something was in those woods, something bad and I don't mean just some asshole trying to take advantage of his girlfriend. I mean something dangerous." Nora snapped, as she cut her eyes to her sister, seeing her shift uncomfortable in her seat.

Imogen knew Nora was talking about Cole and what he was trying to do to her in those woods.

"I don't understand why you all were in the woods anyway." Caroline said, as she shot them all a confused look.

"Hey, don't look at me. I wasn't in the woods." Bonnie pointed out.

"But those two were." Caroline said, as she pointed to the two sisters across from her, then added "Why?"

"Well I was trying to get away from my jerk ex-boyfriend." Nora answered, then looked at her sister as she asked "You want to tell them what you were doing in the woods, Imogen?"

"I was with Cole. That's it." Imogen answered, as she gave Nora a pleading look, begging her not to tell their friends about what happened.

She knew if her friends knew the way Cole could be sometimes that they would judge him and talk her into dumping him, but she didn't want to break up with him. She loved Cole.

Sure he had a temper, but so did she, she wasn't completely innocent in the relationship. She knew what made him mad but would still push his buttons.

That was just during their bad times though, other times he was sweet and that is the way she wanted her friends to see him as. The sweet, perfect boyfriend.

"And what were you and Cole doing in the woods?" Caroline asked with a grin then added "Or do I even need to ask?"

"No I think you should ask. So go ahead Imogen. Tell them what Cole was doing to you in the woods." Nora said pushing the issue.

"Nothing Nora. God! Just because you're not getting any lately cause you can't keep a boyfriend, doesn't mean you can ruin it for the rest of us." Imogen snapped, feeling her anger over take her.

She knew what Nora was doing, she was trying to expose Cole as a bad guy which wasn't true at all.

She looked over at Nora, ready to unleash all of her anger on her then paused when she saw the sad expression on Nora's face.

Imogen instantly felt guilty for losing her temper and upsetting her sister. "Nora I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap. It's late and it's been a long night and I'm just tired." Imogen said sincerely.

"It's ok." Nora mumbled, as she stared down at the table.

Bonnie and Caroline looked at each other, unsure about what to say or do, they never knew what to do when the sisters argued and this time was no different.

Finally, hoping to ease the tension Caroline cleared her throat then asked "Hey, have any of you heard the latest gossip?"

The two sisters shook their head, but neither one spoke up, causing Bonnie to speak up and say "No, what's the latest drama 'oh gossip queen'?"

"Well, I heard before Vicki was attacked or whatever, that she was in the woods with Tyler. Three guesses on what they were doing, although, I bet you only need one guess." Caroline joked, hoping to cheer everyone up, after the little sister argument the mood quickly changed at the table and she was just hoping to make it better.

But she had forgotten for a moment about Nora and Tyler's history until her best friend Imogen shot her a dirty look. "Oh, I'm sorry Nora. I forgot you and Tyler had that little thing, but don't worry, I'm sure the Vicki thing didn't mean anything." Caroline quickly added.

"I don't care what or who Tyler does." Nora said, hoping she sounded braver than she felt.

She couldn't deny that she had feelings for Tyler, but like she had told him earlier, she wanted more, but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt a little bit to hear that he moved on to a girl that she used to be friends with.

"Good, you shouldn't care. You can do better." Bonnie said with a friendly smile, as she laid her hand on top of Nora's, giving it a small squeeze. Suddenly Bonnie's face fell when she saw a dark headed man kissing Nora.

She couldn't see the man's face, but the two were in a very heated make out session, until the man bit into Nora's neck, causing her to gasp in surprise.

"You okay Bon?" Nora asked her.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Bonnie lied.

"More of that psychic mumbo jumbo?" Imogen asked with a laugh. Remembering when Bonnie told them their 'futures' at the party.

"No, I-I'm just tired. I need to go home." Bonnie said, as she quickly stood up from the table.

"Hey wait, you're my ride home." Caroline said out.

"Let's go then." Bonnie told her, then she looked at the sisters and asked "Do you two need a ride too?"

"No, I still have more sobering up to do before I go home. If I get caught drinking again, I'll be in big trouble." Imogen answered.

"You sure?" Bonnie asked, not liking the idea of leaving the two girls behind. But as long as they stuck together they should be fine.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll walk home together." Nora added, hoping to reassure them.

"Ok, talk to you two later then." Caroline called out, as she and Bonnie gave them a wave 'good-bye' before walking out of the restaurant.

Once alone, the two sisters sat quietly together for a few minutes, then Imogen stood up to sit across from Nora, so she could see her sister better, before asking "Are you ok? About the Tyler and Vicki thing I mean."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Nora answered as she took a sip of her water.

"You don't have to lie Nora, not to me. It's just us two here, you can be honest." Imogen said.

"What do you want me to say?" Nora asked with a bitter chuckle, then added "I told him months ago it was over, for good and to move on and he did."

"Yeah but Vicki was your friend, besides I know you care about Tyler. You two were on and off for years." Imogen pointed out.

"All I'm thinking about now is that I hope Vicki is alright." Nora said, looking over at Imogen as she asked "What about you? Are you ok?"

"What do you mean?" Imogen asked, acting confused although she had an idea what Nora was really asking.

"I'm talking about Cole. He was forcing himself on you Imogen." Nora said quietly, then added "If me and Jeremy didn't show up, who knows what would have happened."

"Nothing would have happened. He would have stopped." Imogen said, hoping her lie sounded convincing, but Nora could see right through the lie.

Nora scoffed, she couldn't believe Imogen would actually lie for that asshole. She knew they had a toxic relationship at times, like hers and Tyler's was, but she never thought it had gotten that bad. She knew Cole was a jerk, but she never knew he had crossed the line and become pushy and abusive toward her sister.

"You shouldn't be with him Imogen. You deserve so much better than that." Nora said softly, as she grabbed her sister's hand.

"He's not that bad. We both have a bad temper and I push him to far sometimes. It's not like he's beating me or something." Imogen pointed out.

"Yet." Nora added in, then said "Just cause he hasn't hit you yet, doesn't mean he won't start soon. He pushed you against a tree tonight and probably would have raped you if Jeremy and I didn't step in. Who knows what could happen next time, next time he could actually hurt you. You have to get out while you can Imogen."

Imogen looked down at the table as tears filled her eyes. She didn't want to believe her sister, she couldn't believe her.

Cole might yell and get angry at her from time to time, but he would never hurt her or would he?

While she was deep in thought, Nora glanced over at the door as it opened then groaned when she saw Tyler walk in with a group of his friends.

She had already dealt with him enough today. Now she just wanted to get out of the building and get home before he saw her, but first, she had to run to the bathroom.

"Hey, I'm going to use the restroom and when I get back we'll head home ok?" Nora said to her sister. When Imogen nodded her head, Nora stood up and quickly made her way toward the back of the building where the bathrooms were.

She kept her head down, hoping her hair would hide her face so no one, namely Tyler would see her. She was almost to the bathroom door when her luck ran out and she ran, literally, into Tyler as he exited the men's bathroom.

"Hey, if you wanted a quickie in the bathroom all you had to do was ask." Tyler said, as he grabbed onto her arms to keep her from falling after slamming into him.

"Let go of me." Nora snapped, as pulled her arms away and pushed him away from her.

"Whoa! No need to get violent, I thought you wanted it." Tyler said.

"Well you're wrong. I told you, it's over Ty." Nora said back.

"Fine, whatever." Tyler said, as he held up his hands in surrender. "It's not like I'm trying to force you or anything cause we both know you'll be back. You do this shit all the time Nora. You dump me, tell me it's over, then months later you're back in my bed. So let's just cut out all the time apart and get back to the good stuff." He added, as he shot her his trademark smile, the smile he knew she loved. The smile that could always make her say 'yes'.

"From the way I heard it, you already got some 'good stuff' tonight." Nora said bitterly.

"What are you talking about?" Tyler asked, confused.

"I heard you moved on to Vicki." Nora said, hoping she didn't sound jealous.

"Are you jealous?" Tyler asked, as he smiled at her, happy to be getting a reaction out of her.

"No, I'm not jealous." Nora answered.

"Then what's the problem? Let's just go in here and have some fun." Tyler said, as he nodded his head toward the bathroom door. When Nora didn't answer, Tyler took her silence as a silent agreement and took her hand, leading her toward the door.

He was about to open the door when she finally realized what was going on. She quickly jerked her hand away and snapped "I said no Ty. God, what is with guys who can't take no for an answer."

Tyler looked at her with a confused expression, wondering what she could be talking about, but before he could ask, she continued "I told you it's over and I mean it this time. I'm not jumping back into bed with you, now leave me alone."

Once she was done, Nora turned around and walked into the ladies restroom, locking the door so he couldn't follow her.

Tyler stood still for a moment, feeling angry about her rejecting him once again. If she wanted to be a bitch and play this the hard way, that was fine, he could play that game too.

He scoffed then turned around to walk back over toward his friends. He was almost to the table when he saw Imogen sitting alone with her head lowered, looking at the table, causing him to come to a stop.

He looked back toward the restrooms for a moment before walking toward Imogen, hoping Nora would catch him flirting with her sister. That would teach her to turn him down.

"Now what is a pretty girl like you doing sitting here all alone, Gen?" Tyler asked, as he slid into the seat across from Imogen.

Imogen quickly wiped the tears off of her face then looked up at him before saying softly "Go away Tyler."

When Tyler saw the tears in her eyes, he felt his heart break for her. Normally a girl's tears did nothing to him, but for some reason seeing a lone tear fall down her cheek did something to him.

It made him feel sympathy for her and made him want to help her. For a moment, he wanted to wipe her tears away, hold her close and make her feel better.

He quickly shook his head, pushed those thoughts aside. Those thoughts or his racing heart as he looked at her meant nothing, he was thinking like a chick. He knew she was upset about Cole and he felt a little bad for her, that was it, nothing more.

"Hey forget about Cole. I'm sure tomorrow he'll regret breaking up and everything will be ok." Tyler said to her, hoping he was helping, even if it was a little bit.

"What? Break up? What are you talking about?" Imogen asked him confused.

"You and Cole broke up right? That's what happened in the woods?" Tyler asked, remembering that was what Cole had told him happened. Cole told him, he was tired of her and her prude ways and he dumped her. Although Tyler figured he didn't mean it, he always said things like that when he was annoyed with her.

"No, we didn't break up." Imogen answered, then asked "Why would you think that?"

"That's what he told me before..." Tyler began to say, then paused, unsure if he should tell her the rest.

"Before what?" Imogen asked.

"Before he left the party with Carrie." Tyler finished.

"Carrie Conners?" Imogen asked, as she felt anger taking over again when Tyler nodded his head.

She felt her heart begin to race as she took several deep breaths, trying to stay in control, but was finding it hard to do so.

She wrapped her hand around the coffee cup she had been drinking out of, without even thinking, she begin to squeeze the cup until it broke into a million of pieces and hot liquid splashed onto her hand.

"God! Gen, are you ok?" Tyler called out, as he grabbed a napkin off of the table and begin to wipe the coffee off from her hand then he inspected her hand, looking for any cuts from the cup breaking.

Imogen blinked then looked up at Tyler, surprised that he was holding her hand and was even more surprised at the tingles in her hand as he held it.

She wrote it off as the hot coffee making it tingle as she quickly pulled her hand away then said "I'm fine."

"Come on, let me take you home." Tyler suggested as he stood up from the table.

"Thanks, but I need to find Nora." Imogen said, as she stood up as well. Tyler nodded his head in understanding then turned and began to walk away.

He had only taken a couple of steps when Imogen's cellphone went off, letting her know she had a new text message. She pulled the phone out to read the message then sighed before saying to him "On second thought, I'll take that ride home."

**~{([~])}~**

Nora walked outside of the grill and leaned up against the building, take a few deep breaths trying to calm herself.

She was mad at Tyler after the comment he had made at the party about her sister looking hot, Nora knew he was going to try and come between the sisters. Imogen already had one jerk, she didn't need another.

Hearing the door open and Imogen say, "Thanks again for the ride." Nora darted into the parking lot and squatted down beside the nearest car.

She raised her head up and watched as Tyler put his hand on Imogen's lower back and led her to the passenger side of his car. Her jaw dropped when he opened the door for her, he hadn't done that since he had first gotten his license sophomore year and that only lasted about a week.

"Spying on someone?" A voice questioned.

"No… I…umm, I dropped my keys." Nora lied, as she pretended to look on the ground around her while staying squatted down so Imogen wouldn't see her. Tyler hadn't pulled out of the parking lot yet.

"Which car is yours?" Damon asked her.

"Ummm, this one." She said, as she patted the older blue car beside her.

Damon smiled smugly and nodded his head, "The car's a classic." He said.

"Yeah, I love old cars…" Nora said, as she raised back and saw Tyler finally pulling out of the parking lot.

Turning around she saw who she was talking to.

"Damon… right?" She questioned, her eyes wide as she looked at him.

He nodded.

Glancing around the parking lot she realized they were the only two out there. A slight feeling of danger rose in her stomach.

She wasn't sure why, but she would have felt a lot better if someone else had been out there.

"You heading home?" Damon asked her, taking a step closer.

"I… think I left my keys inside. It was nice to see you again." Nora said, the last half of her sentence she yelled over her shoulder as she was already heading back into the grill.

Sitting down at a table, she rubbed her hands together, the night air had gotten very cold. She looked around the inside of the grill hoping to see a familiar face, she didn't want to walk home with as cold as it was.

But she dropped her head when she didn't see anyone she even remotely recognized.

"Find your keys?" Damon asked as he sat down at the table with her.

"No… must have lost them." She lied. She didn't even her license let alone a car.

"Someone coming to pick you up?" He asked, his eyes intense as he stared at her.

"I'm just going to walk." She admitted.

"It's cold outside." He pointed out.

"I'm aware of that." Nora said nodding.

"Let me give you a ride home." He offered.

"Thanks, but it's okay. I don't live too far away." She lied again. It was quite a long ways to her house. Her eyebrows pushed together in frustration, she just kept lying to him and she didn't know why.

"You sure?" He questioned keeping his eyes locked on her in a way that made her shift in her seat uncomfortably.

"I'm sure, but thank you." Nora said, offering a friendly smile.

"Okay…" Damon said as he stood up.

Even though he gave her a slightly uneasy feeling, it was freezing outside and she really didn't want to walk home. It looked like he was her only option.

"Wait… if your still offering, I'd really appreciate a ride." She said, looking at him as he started to walk away from the table.

He looked at her and smiled, she smiled back and followed him from the grill.

Taking out her phone she looked to see if Imogen had tried to call or text her, but she didn't have any calls or texts.

Looking she watched as Damon open the passenger door of the car she was claiming to be hers earlier.

She could feel her cheeks darken with embarrassment.

"Thank you…" She said softly, as she got in the car and he shut the door before walking over to the driver's side of the car.

He got in and pulled his keys from his pocket.

Frowning she looked over at him. "Why didn't you tell me this was your car?" She asked him, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I like to watch you squirm." He admitted, as he started the car.

"Confession time; I was spying on my sister and my ex-boyfriend." She admitted.

"Wow, that is… a pretty messed up situation." Damon said.

"I know… I'm sorry I lied and tried to claim your car as mine." She told him.

He nodded, "No harm done."

"You're new in town right, I don't remember seeing you around before." She told him, as she tried to take her mind off of being in a car.

"Just moved back, I used to live here." He explained, watching her from the corner of his eye.

She was slightly rocking in the seat and repeatedly rubbing her hands back and forth on the top of her legs.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"I'm fine, why?" She asked.

"You look like you're going through withdrawals or something." He said, as he looked at her.

Her eyes widened.

"Can you please watch the road and not me?" She yelled.

"We're the only car out here." He replied as he looked back to the road.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. You're being so nice and giving me a ride home after I lied to you." She said, her voice soft as she shook her head at herself.

He looked back over at her.

Feeling eyes on her she looked back over to him.

"Watch the road!" She exclaimed.

"Do you just want me to drop you off here?" He asked, irritated as he pulled his car to a stop on the shoulder of the road.

"I'm sorry, I just have issues with cars. Especially when someone is driving that I don't really know. I promise I won't tell you how to drive anymore." She promised.

He sighed and pulled back onto the empty stretch of hiway.

"The summer before my freshman year…I lost my mom in a really bad car accident." She admitted, feeling like she owed him an explanation as to why she was acting the way she was.

"Kind of explains it, I guess." He said.

"I… was in the car to. We were crossing an intersection and this car came flying out of nowhere and t-boned us on my moms side. I… I was trapped in the car with her while she died. When they car hit us they were going so fast it sent us flying off the road and into a tree on my side." She said, taking a deep breath and shaking slightly as she recalled the accident. She never talked about it.

"Did you get injured?" He asked.

"Physcially a little, I was pretty bruised up had a bunch of cuts on my face from the glass, thought I was going to have really bad scars but luckily I healed up good, and a few bruised ribs but nothing was broken. Emotionally… as you can see, I'm still healing." She said.

"And that happened in Mystic Falls?" He questioned.

"No, I moved here and in with my dad and sister after the accident." She told him.

He looked over at her for a few seconds, he wasn't sure what it was but something made him want to know more about her.

"Parents divorced?" He asked, trying to keep her talking.

"You… ask a lot of questions." Nora said.

"Just trying to make conversation." He stated.

"It's fine, I'm just not really used to this." She admitted.

"Used to what?" He questioned.

"People asking me questions about myself, I'm the one who doesn't really stand out in a group of people. I keep to myself, and no one really ever makes it a priority to get to know me." Nora admitted, feeling insecure about admitting that to him.

"You stand out in a crowd." He assured her, glancing over at her.

She smiled to herself, "Apparently not to anyone else." She said.

Taking a deep breath she answered his earlier question. "No, umm. That's a pretty messed up situation to. My dad had an affair with my mom, he and his wife were going through a rough patch. Umm, I have a half- sister, Imogen… we're only a few months apart in age."

"So both his wife and your mom were pregnant at the same time?" He asked, a little surprised.

She nodded.

"You weren't kidding when you said it was messed up." Damon said, looking over at her.

He slowed and pulled to a stop at the end of her driveway.

"Thanks again for the ride." She said, as she looked out of her window and saw Tyler's car still parked in the driveway.

"Anytime Nora." He responded.

She started to open her door and stopped.

Looking back at him she said, "I never told you where I lived."

"I was following you the other day, remember?" He asked, bringing up their conversation from the woods.

She laughed.

"You can't go a whole conversation without getting creepy can you?" she asked, smiling.

"Goodnight Nora." He said, his eyes intense as they bore into hers.

It took her a few moments to catch her breath and pulled her gaze from his. "Night Damon." She said as she quickly opened the door and started up the drive way. Making it a point to not even look at Tyler's car, knowing he and her sister were still in it.

**~{([~])}~**

Imogen watched as Nora unlocked the door to their house and went inside.

"Who the hell is that?" Tyler asked, looking over his shoulder as the car pulled away.

"I have no idea, but it was guy…" Imogen said, shock apparent in her voice.

"You don't know him?" Tyler asked, looking over to her.

"Never him or the car." Imogen admitted.

"So she just got a ride home from a stranger? It took me forever to get her in a car with me." Tyler said, a ting of anger showing in his voice.

"I know, I still have trouble getting her in the car with me." Imogen said, nodding.

Imogen got lost in her own thoughts for a few moments, wondering who the guy was and how he'd convinced her to accept a car ride from him.

Tyler watched as her forehead and nose were scrunched up as she was thinking. A small smile spread across his lips, he hated to admit it to himself but he liked spending time with her.

He thought about how lucky Cole was to have her.

"Cole's an idiot for leaving the party with Carrie." He said his thoughts out loud.

Imogen looked over at him, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll work everything out tomorrow. It's been a really weird night."

He nodded.

"God, don't you miss middle school sometimes?" She asked, as she leaned her head back against the head rest of the seat.

"Why?" He asked, looking at her confused.

"Life was so much simpler, relationships were less complicated… homework was a breeze. In high school it's all about cliques and worrying who you're seen talking to. You know, in middle school I was friends with everyone! I really don't think I had any enemies, then high school comes along and I don't even talk to half the people I used to." She recalled.

"You've got a point." Tyler nodded.

"Remember how excited we all were for freshman year? We thought high school was going to be so cool." Imogen said with a small laugh shaking her head.

"Especially after we snuck into the party at the end of 8th grade year, I think there were like what… 10 of us? Maybe 15. We thought since we were going to be freshman we had a right to be there." Tyler brought up, laughing.

"Oh my god! How could I forget that? It was my first real party, I thought every weekend in high school was going to be like that." She admitted.

"it was the first time I got drunk… I thought my parents were going to kill me." Tyler told her.

"You're telling me! I tried to be quiet when I got home and I walked in the door, took like 3 steps lost my balance and knocked a lamp off a table. I tried to play it off like I had just tripped, but I'm pretty sure they could smell the alcohol in the next room. I wasn't allowed to leave the house for the rest of the summer." Imogen told him.

They both laughed at remembering it.

Imogen's smile fell.

"Once I sobered up the next morning was when they told me about Nora's mom… I remember feeling so bad because I had been out having the time of my life while Nora's was in the hospital. Then they told me that Nora would have coming to live with us because she didn't have anywhere else to go." Imogen remembered, feeling back for how she had treated her sister earlier that night.

"She spent the whole summer in her room with the door shut, she hardly even came out to eat…" Imogen admitted.

"She was a mess." Tyler recalled.

"You know, you were the first one she really talked to…" Imogen said, glancing over at him.

"I know." Tyler said, his voice quiet as he remembered when he first met Nora freshman year.

"I… was kind of a dick to her tonight." Tyler admitted.

"So was I." Imogen told him.

"It's gotten late… I need to head inside, and check on her." Imogen said after taking a deep breath.

"Thanks again for the ride." Imogen said, as she opened the door.

"No problem, I had fun.' Tyler said.

Imogen looked back at him.

"It was a car ride… How is that fun?" Imogen asked him.

"Well for one, you didn't bitch me out the whole time." He said, playfully as he looked at her.

Imogen laughed a little, "Well, for once you didn't deserve to be bitched at."

As Imogen walked in the house she saw Nora coming out of the kitchen holding a dark green coffee mug, she was already dressed in her pajamas.

"Hey… who was the guy who gave you a ride home?' Imogen asked.

"Night Imogen." Nora said under her breath as she started up the stairs.

"Uhh, are you not going to tell me who he was?" She asked following her sister up the stairs.

"Maybe you should start by telling me what you were doing with Tyler." Nora snapped as she walked into her room.

"He was just giving me a ride home, you bailed on me." Imogen said.

"Don't even try that. You two were talking when I came out of the bathroom… Don't make it out to sound like you only talked to him because I wasn't there." Nora said, as she took a small drink of her hot tea.

"If you saw us, why didn't you come over and get me? He sat down at the table with me… you know how he is." Imogen said.

"Exactly, I know how he is Imogen. Which is why I couldn't understand why you'd even be giving him the time of day." Nora yelled.

"Why are you so mad at me?" Imogen asked.

Nora rolled her eyes and slammed her door shut.

Imogen knocked on the door softly.

"Are you okay?" She asked, as she rested her forehead on the outside of her sisters closed door.

She was answered by the low thudding bass from rock music, playing from Nora's iPod dock.

Sighing she headed down the hall to her own bedroom.

* * *

**~{([~])}~|~{([~])}~**

**A/N**_** – We both want to thank you all for reading! ^_^ **_

_**Also, don't forget to check out Miss E Charlotte's fanfiction page! She's got really amazing stories!**_

_**We will be making banners to go along with this story, you can find them and more at SageLondyn . polyvore . com and at MissECharlotte . polyvore . com**_

**Please take a few moments to leave us a few lines in a review and let us know what you are thinking so far! We appreciate it so much!**


	4. Lunch Dates

**Lunch Dates**

**_~A/N – This is a collaborative piece written by myself and my very good friend Miss E Charlotte.~_**

* * *

Early the next morning, Nora rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she made her way downstairs, thankful that it was the weekend.

After all the drama at the party and not getting any sleep once Damon dropped her off, she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate in any of her classes. She could barely even keep her eyes open at the moment, but she knew a nice strong cup of coffee would solve that.

With that thought in mind, she made her way into the kitchen and saw Lillian, Imogen's mother, putting dirty dishes from breakfast in the dishwasher.

Hearing someone enter the room, Lillian straighten up and smiled at her step daughter as she said, "Good morning Nora."

"Morning Lil." Nora said back with a smile, as she sat down in a bar stool at the counter.

"You just missed your Dad and breakfast, but I can whip you up something quickly before work." Lillian offered.

"No thanks. I'll just take some coffee." Nora said with a yawn.  
"Everything ok? You look exhausted." Lillian asked, concern.

"So in other words I look crappy?" Nora asked.

"I didn't mean it that way, I just meant you look tired. Like you didn't get much sleep last night and I was worried." Lillian explained, as she turned around to grab a coffee cup to pour the dark liquid into before handing it to Nora.

"I know, I was kidding." Nora said with a laugh, as she took a small sip of the hot drink.

Lillian smiled and laughed with her then asked, "So is everything ok? I mean I know you have Imogen and your Dad you could talk to, but don't forget, I'm here for you too."

Nora nodded her head, she knew she could open up to Lillian and even though she had always been nice to her since she moved in with her Dad and Imogen, at the end of the day Lillian was not her mother.

Before her Mom's death, she and her mom were close, she told her mom everything and so far she had not found anyone else she could trust or confide in like that.

She couldn't tell Lillian about how she was up all night thinking about the new older hot guy she had got a ride from last night or how she was still pissed at Imogen for even talking to Tyler, much less let him hold her hand like they were some new couple on a date.

Then when she wasn't thinking about that, she was tossing and turning as she worried about Vicki, which was something she could talk to Lillian about, because Lillian would know how Vicki was doing, since she was a doctor at the Mystic Falls hospital.

"I'm just worried about Vicki." Nora admitted, at least she was telling her half of the truth.

"Vicki is going to be ok. I checked on her personally last night when she came in. She was a lucky girl." Lillian said, hoping to reassure her, then added,"I just can't believe we have a wild animal running around. I just hope Sheriff Forbes, Jason and the others catch it before anyone else gets hurt."

Nora nodded her head in agreement then said,"I was reading last night that there haven't been any animal attacks here in years."

"That's true. I actually can't remember the last time there was a animal attack here. It's been a long long time." Lillian said, then added with tears in her eyes,"I'm just glad you girls were not at that party last night. When I think about how that could have been Imogen or even you..."

"It's ok. We're ok." Nora said interrupting her.

She felt a little guilty for lying to her about not being at the party, but what's done is done. If she told the truth now it would cause Imogen and herself to get in to trouble and even though she was mad at her sister at the moment, she wasn't that mad.

"Sorry. I just worry about you girls. There's a lot of bad things out there, even in our little town. Noone or nothing is safe." Lillian warned.

Nora looked at her step mother and wondered if she knew something she wasn't saying, but before she could ask anything, Imogen walked into the kitchen with a wide smile on her face as she called out a cheerful greeting.

"Hey sweetie. You want any breakfast?" Lillian asked her daughter.

"No thanks, I'm about to head out to meet Caroline." Imogen answered.

"That's fine, I need to leave for work now anyway." Lillian said, as she looked at her watch, then added as she looked at the two girls,"your Dad and I are hoping to get off in time for the comet tonight, I thought we could all go together and have a family night."

"That's be fun." Nora said, as Imogen nodded her head in agreement. With their busy work schedule, the Foster family had not had many family nights lately and although most teens would be ok with that, after what happened to the Gilberts earlier this year, it reminded them all about how important family was.

"Good, well hopefully we'll see you two tonight." Lillian said smiling, as she gave the two girls a quick hug before exiting the room and leaving the house for work.

Once the two sisters were alone, Imogen turned to look at Nora as she asked,"you wanna go with me to the grill? Me and Care are meeting for breakfast then going help set up for the festival tonight."

"Nope." Nora mumbled, as she stood up from the counter and walked past Imogen to go into the living room.

Imogen rolled her eyes and sighed as she turned around to follow her while saying,"don't tell me you're still pissed at me for talking to Tyler last night. I told you it wasn't a big deal, besides I should be the one mad at you. You're the one who left me at the grill, forcing me to get a ride home from Tyler."

"So now it's my fault that you two were all buddy buddy?" Nora argued, as she turned around to face her and folding her arms across her chest.

"We were not all 'buddy buddy'. We were just talking." Imogen tried to explain, then added in surprise,"he was actually being nice for once, which surprised the hell out of me."

Nora scoffed as she gave a bitter chuckle before saying,"you actually bought his nice act? God, Imogen he was just being nice to you to screw with me."  
"What?" Imogen asked, confused.

"He was coming on to me once again and I turned his down, so he went to you, knowing it would piss me off." Nora explained.  
"Psst, I knew that. I mean, it's not like I actually believed him, it's not like he'll ever change, Tyler's an ass and we all know it." Imogen said, trying not to feel disappointed. She was stupid to think he was being sincere last night, although she shouldn't even care, this was Tyler after all, it wasn't like they were friends or like she liked him or anything, but she had briefly thought they had bonded last night when he drove her home, she had thought there could have been a chance for them to become friends again but she guessed she was wrong.

Nora sighed when she saw the look on her sister's face and suddenly felt guilty for being so harsh with her. "Look I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings, it's just I know how Tyler is. I know all of his little tricks and games and the last thing I want is for you to get hurt while he's trying to hurt me. So just stay away from him ok?"

"No problem. Trust me, talking to Tyler is the last thing I want to do." Imogen said angrily. She should have known it was just one of Tyler's games, which was fine cause she could play too, that is if she ever talked to him again, which she vowed to herself to never do again.

**~{([~])}~**

Later that day, Nora walked into Vicki's hospital room.  
"Hey Vic!" Nora said smiling.

Vicki sat up in the bed and looked at her a little confused, "What are you doing here?"

"Thought you might need a break from the hospital food…" Nora said as she displayed the bag of food she had picked up for her.  
"Thank you…" Vicki said, still a little confused.

"You're welcome. How are you feeling?" Nora asked as she sat Vicki's drink down on the table.

Vicki opened the bag and started to eat the French fries.

"Why are you here, Nora?" Vicki asked her again.

"I wanted to see how you're doing." Nora explained.

"We haven't talked in a few months…" Vicki pointed out.

"I know, but it was Jeremy and I that found you in the woods. God, Vic… you looked so bad. I was scared to death you weren't going to make it." Nora admitted.

"They say I'm really lucky to be recovering as quickly as I am." Vicki said with a nod as she unwrapped the burger.

"How weird is it? An animal attack? I've spent a lot of time out in that woods, and I've never seen an animal big enough to do that kind of damage." Nora said.

Vicki's face went a little pale and she wrapped the burger back up and laid it on the bed beside her.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up…" Nora apologized.

"Vampire…" Vicki breathed out.

"Whoa… what?" Nora asked.

"I keep having these nightmares and seeing things every single time I close my eyes…" Vicki admitted, shifting uncomfortably on the bed.  
"About vampires?" Nora asked.

"I know I sound crazy… Matty thinks it's just because of the trauma I went through. But, it just feels so real." Vicki told her.  
Nora talked to Vicki a little while longer before leaving.

As Nora was heading down the stairs out of the hospital she lost her balance, luckily she grabbed onto the rail and kept herself from falling, but her purse fell over her shoulder and dumped it's contents down the cement steps.

Groaning she leaned down and started to gather her things, when she saw another set of hands also picking her things up.

"Thank you." She said, before she looked up to see Damon holding her purse out to her.

"Damon." She said, her green eyes a little wide.

"Nora." He responded.

Taking her purse she put the rest of the things back in it, and smiled at him as she slid the strap over her shoulder.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"Did you think I'd stopped following you?" He asked, referring to all of their earlier jokes about him following her.

She looked at him as he smiled and shook her head back and forth, even though his words sounded like a sarcastic joke, there was just something about the way he smiled.

He always seemed to be hiding something, like he had a deep dark secret.

"What are you doing here?" He asked her, when she didn't return the smile.

Looking around she said, "Oh you know, trying to stay in very public areas because I'm currently being stalked."

She smiled at him, and her green eyes sparkled in the sunlight.

"So it's escalated from following to full blown stalking now?" Damon asked, with a small laugh.

"That's how these things normally happen." She replied, laughing.

"Are you going to watch the comet tonight?" Damon asked.

"Umm, maybe." She replied.

"I hope so." Damon said, his eyes intense as he looked at her.

Her stomach jumped and held her breath as it felt like her knees were growing weaker with every passing second.

"I… uhh… i… don't know." She said, her eyebrows pushed together in frustration as she stumbled over her words.  
He raised an eyebrow, "You don't know what?" He asked.

She shrugged, "I don't know."

"Okay… well, hopefully I'll see you tonight. You should go, it's a once in a lifetime chance to see it." He told her.

Nervously she tucked her blond hair behind her ear as she nodded.  
She didn't even remember being that nervous when she had started dating, there was just something about him that had such an effect on her.  
He turned and started to walk away.

"You should be careful; we've got a vampire on the loose." Nora called after him, jokingly.  
Stopping and turning around he said, "What?"

She looked at his un-amused expression.

"Terrible joke, I'm sorry. Imogen's always telling me I need to work on my humor… it's always awkward and never really all that funny…" She said, shaking her head in disbelief at herself.

Damon walked up to her, his eyes locking with hers "Why are you talking about vampires?" He asked, using his compulsion on her.

In a trance she said, "I was visiting a friend in the hospital. She told me she's having nightmares about being attacked by a vampire."

"Has she told anyone else?" Damon asked, keeping her under the spell of compulsion.

"As far as I know only her brother, but he thinks it's from the trauma of the animal attack." She said.  
Damon sighed and looked around.

Nora blinked her eyes and looked around confused for a few moments before she looked back at Damon.  
"I need to get going, but I'll really try to make it tonight." She said.

Damon nodded and watched her she turned and walked away, shaking her head back and forth still upset with herself for acting so nervous and awkward.

"Are you hungry?" Damon asked.

Nora turned around and smiled, "Yeah… I brought some food to my friend, but I didn't get myself anything."

"Come on." Damon said nodding his head towards where his car was parked.

Taking a deep breath she nodded and followed him, dreading having to get back inside of a car.

**~{([~])}~**

When Nora had headed off to the hospital, Imogen met up with Caroline to help get the town square set up for the celebration of the comet that night.

After talking to her friends for a little while, Imogen was starting to decorate when her phone rang. Looking at the caller I.D, she frowned at seeing Cole's number.  
She watched it as it continued ring, trying to decide if she was ready to talk to him yet or not.

Imogen was so deep in thought that she didn't hear Tyler sneaking up behind her.

"Boo." He yelled, knowing she startled easily.

Gasping Imogen dropped her phone to the ground and spun around, her fist collided with the side of Tyler's chest before she even realized what was going on.  
He groaned loudly in pain and took a few staggering steps back.

"I was just playing around. Damn Gen, you hit harder than some of the guys on the team." He said through gritted teeth as he rubbed the sore spot where she had hit him.

"Leave me alone, Tyler." Imogen growled as she picked up her phone and inspected it, happy to see it wasn't damaged.

"God, whats you're problem today? We we're getting along fine last night…" Tyler said, shocked at her strength as he continued to rub the spot she had hit.

"Yeah, because I needed a ride home." She said, not sure why the idea of him using her had gotten her so upset.

But ever since Nora pointed out how Tyler had just been around Imogen to upset her, Imogen had been really angry at him.

"So you were just using me a for a ride home?" He asked, still not sure what she was so angry at.

"Yeah, it doesn't feel very good, does it?" Imogen snapped at him.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Tyler asked.

"What am I talking about? Oh geez, I don't know… maybe the fact that I don't like to be used, so I was just giving you a taste of your own medicine!" She said.  
Before he could respond, Jeremy joined them.

"Hey Imogen… ready to go?" he asked, he had been listening to their fight and knew she needed a way away from Tyler.

It only took a few moments to realize Jeremy had showed up to help her.

"Yeah, I'm ready let's go." She said.

"Wait, go where?" Tyler asked, the vein in his forehead protruding as he looked back and forth between the two of them.  
Everyone knew Jeremy had been crushing on Imogen for years.

"None of your business, dick." Jeremy yelled over his shoulder as he and Imogen started towards her black BMW convertible.  
Once they reached the car, they both looked back to see Tyler was no where to be found.

"Thanks Jeremy…" Imogen said with a grateful smile.

"No problem, I could tell he was bothering you." Jeremy offered with a smile.

"I'll see you around." Imogen said as she pressed the button on her keys to unlock the car.

She saw the disappointed look on his face as he nodded.

"Hey, umm… have you eaten lunch yet? I was gonna swing by the grill." Imogen said.

Jeremy smiled. "I'm in… I'm starving.

Several minutes later, Imogen and Jeremy slid into a booth and started looking over the menu.  
She laughed and shook her head.

"What?" Jeremy asked her.

"I always read the entire menu… everytime I come in here. And I always order the same thing." She said.

He couldn't stop the smile that spread over his lip at the sound of her laughing.

Imogen looked up and squinted out the windows into the parking lot when she saw an older blue car pull into a spot.

She was trying to figure out if it was the same car she had seen Nora in the night before, but when she first saw the car it was dark so she was wasn't sure.

She continued to watch as a man got out of the drivers seat and walked around the car, opening the passenger door.

"No freaking way…" Imogen breathed out, her eyes wide with shock as she saw Nora get out of the car and start to head inside with the man she hadn't seen before.

"What's wrong?" Jeremy asked when he noticed the look on Imogen's face.

Imogen didn't answer as she turned in her seat to watch her sister walk in with a complete stranger, an older complete stranger.

"Who the hell is that?" Imogen mumbled, as she continued to watch them as they walked toward the back of the building and sat down across from each other at a booth.

Jeremy shrugged as he said, "I've never seen that guy before. He looks way older than us."

"Yeah he does, but he's kinda cute." Imogen added with a smile, as she watched the guy say something to her sister then saw her sister lower her head and blush with a smile on her face, she hasn't seen her sister that happy in a while.

At her comment, Jeremy frowned, now not only did he have to compete against Cole and those types, now he had to compete against older guys too for Imogen's attention, although he knew it was stupid to have a crush on her to begin with. He knew he could never get a girl like Imogen, but that never stopped him from liking her.

Out of all of Elena's friends, she was the only one who would pay attention to him. Anytime she had been over at the house for a sleep over, she had always took the time to speak to him or joke around with him, she was even his first kiss at age eleven, although it wasn't a full-on lip kiss, instead she had given him a kiss on the cheek for his birthday, which to this day was still the best present he ever got.

Then even after they all hit high school, she would still speak to him, even if he was a year younger and not part of the cool crowd, she still treated him like a friend and that meant a lot to him. She was his dream girl and he knew everyone knew it and made fun of him for it, but he didn't care, as long as she was in his life, even if it was only as friends, he was ok with that.

"Although I hope she's careful." Imogen said, as she turned back around to face him, missing the frown he had earlier on his face.

He looked at her with a small smile as she continued to say, "after the whole Tyler thing, the last thing I want is for some jerk to only use her again. She deserves better then that."

"So do you." Jeremy said without thinking, then quickly added when he saw the frown appear on her face,"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Imogen folded her hands and rested them on top of the table then glanced down to look at them with a sigh as she said,"I guess you're talking about that whole thing with Cole last night right?"

"He was hurting you Imogen." Jeremy hissed, as he leaned across the table so only she could hear him. He felt anger overtaking him again as he thought about what he saw last night, when Cole was taking advantage of her. Even though he knew he could never take Cole in a fight, he had been tempted to try in that moment, he never wanted to see someone treating her like that again.

Imogen reached out to lay one of her hands on top of his, hoping to calm him down, then said,"it's ok Jer. It wasn't as bad as it seemed, but thank you for saving me last night."

Jeremy shook his head at her words then said,"you're wrong. It was bad. He was trying..."

"Jeremy seriously, it's ok." Imogen interrupted him, as she shot him a look, wanting him to drop it. She had already heard it all from Nora and wasn't in the mood to hear it again. She knew they were all right about Cole and had spent all night thinking about it, but right now, she just wanted to eat lunch with a friend.

"Sorry." Jeremy mumbled, dropping the subject all together. The last thing he wanted to do was upset her.

"It's ok." Imogen said again, although she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince. Him or herself. She shot him a small smile, letting him know she wasn't mad or anything, then glanced back down at the menu again before adding,"let's just order and eat. My treat."

"No, I'll pay." Jeremy tried to argue. He knew this was the closest he would ever get to a date with her so he wasn't about to let her pay for it all.

"I owe you Jer. After all you did save me twice now." Imogen said with a smile, as a waiter walked over to them to take their order.

As Imogen and Jeremy ate their lunch, toward the back of the restaurant, Nora and Damon were still looking over the menu.

After deciding what she wanted, Nora sat her menu down and was surprised to see Damon staring at her with what she was starting to realize was his signature smirk upon his lips.

"What?" Nora asked, as she subconsciously pushed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Can't a guy just be happy about having a beautiful companion joining him for lunch?" Damon asked with the smirk still on his face.

Nora looked down at the table and felt her cheeks heat up, but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop a smile from appearing on her face at his comment.

It had been a long time since someone complimented her, even when she was with Tyler he didn't say many things like that, his compliments were usually sex related when he was trying to get her in the mood, so the fact that a guy, a hot older guy, was complimenting her and wanted nothing back in return was a good thing in her book.

"So, um, I just realized, I don't know much about you." Nora squeaked out, as she raised her head to look at him. As much as she liked his compliment, she still wasn't use to them and had no idea how to handle it.

Damon shrugged his shoulders then said, "not much to tell."

"Oh come on. I'm sure you have this long drawn out complicated past." Nora pointed out.

"Why would you say that?" Damon asked, wondering for a moment if she knew exactly who and what he was, but when she shot him a smile, he realized she knew nothing and was just trying to get to know him.

"You just look the part. Like you have experienced lost and pain in your life." Nora answered, then added softly as she looked down at the table,"it's the same look I see when I look in the mirror."

Damon tilted his head to the side as he silently watched her try to get ahold of her emotions, noone had every said anything like that to him before.

People either used him or steered clear of him, which was fine with him, but this girl was different.

Like him, she had lost someone she loved and could understand that pain, she could understand him.

With that last thought in mind, he quickly shook his head, the last thing he needed to do was start caring for someone again.

The last girl he loved was taken from him and he did not want to go through that again. He knew it was best not to care, it was best to shut off everything and just live in the moment, which is what he had been doing for centuries and would continue to do.

She would make a good fuck buddy but that was about it, that was all he needed until he can be reunited with the one he loves.

Nora raised her head to look at him and noticed the serious expression on his face, she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about. But instead of asking she softly chuckled then said, "sorry, I kind of ruined the mood. I told you I am bad at this."

Damon shook his head and opened his mouth to tell her it was ok, but before he could say a word, her cell phone begin to ring. She shot him a apologetic smile as she pulled the phone out of her front pants pocket.

When she saw it was Matt calling, she looked back at Damon then said, "sorry, I should take this."

As Damon nodded his head, telling her to go ahead, she quickly stood up and walked a few steps away as she answered the call.

Damon listened in as Matt begin to tell Nora about Vicki having nightmares about vampires again and asking if she could come help him calm her down. Nora told him she would then ended the call as she walked back over toward Damon.

"I'm sorry Damon, but a friend needs my help." Nora explained, feeling bad for leaving.

"It's ok. I have some errands I need to run." Damon said, as he stood up. He knew he needed to do something about Vicki before she told the whole town about her vampire dreams.

"But now you owe me." Damon added with a smirk.

"Maybe I'll see you tonight then." Nora said smiling, not wanting to come off as eager as she remembered Imogen always telling her it's best to keep a man guessing, never let him see you are interested.

"Maybe I will." Damon said back, as he flashed her one more smile before turning around and walking away.

Nora couldn't help but smile as she watched him walk out the door. After all the drama with Tyler, she had honestly had no plans in dating this year, but now maybe she needed to rethink that, cause the more she was around Damon, the more she wanted to be around him.

She wanted to know everything about him, even the deep dark secret he always seemed like he was hiding. She was serious before when she said he had that look like he had been through a lot and she wanted to know what all had happened to him and she wasn't going to stop till she figured it all out.

* * *

**A/N – Thank you all so much for reading! We really hope you're enjoying this story, we're having a great time working together on the chapters and ideas for the future of the story!**

**We've got some big plans for the next chapters, there's going to be plenty of drama and things will start heating up… ^_-**

**We've both made sets and banners for this and some other stories on polyvore and photobucket. Links can be found on my profile and on the lovely Miss E Charlotte's profile! While you're there check out her other stories, they're amazing!**

**I also have a few other Vampire Dairies stories posted.**

**Thanks to everyone who added this to their favorites/ subscribed for alerts! **

**As much as we really love writing this, we're kind of starting to feel like no one is really reading it. So if you're a fan and want to see this story continued please don't be silent about it. Leave a review and let us know you'd like to see more. We both focus our attention on our most popular stories so, the more interest there is in a story the faster we'll get updates finished and posted.**

**Thanks again!**

**We hope you're all having a good holiday season and we wish you all the best for 2013!** ^_^


	5. Had Enough

**Had Enough**

_**~A/N – This is a collaborative piece written by myself and my very good friend Miss E Charlotte.~**_

* * *

Imogen stood in front of her full length mirror and surveyed her choice of clothes before walking over to her closet and grabbing a pair of pink high heels that matched the pink strapless top she was wearing.

The top had tiered ruffles all the way down with a lace trim. She paired that with a pair of black wide leg pants and grabbed a black coat to go on top.

She knew everyone was going to be at the town square to watch the comet, and she wanted Cole to see what he was missing out on.

Once completely dressed, she walked back over to the mirror to touch up her make up, and check the time on her phone before heading down the hallway, as she passed her sisters room she knocked on the door, "Nora! Mom and dad are all ready to go, I'm heading down stairs. Hurry up." She called.

"Coming!" Nora yelled back.

Taking a deep breath Nora looked in her mirror, she had scrunched her hair to give it some volume and shape.

She was wearing a light orange/tan eye shadow, with eyeliner and several coats of mascara. She was starting to second guess her choice of clothes; she was wearing a pair of her faded jeans, a dark purple V-neck spaghetti strap shirt that showed a bit of cleavage.

She looked down to her faded converse sneakers, and grabbed a thin black jacket in case it cooled off in the night.

Normally she didn't care how she looked for community events, but she knew Damon was going to be there and she wanted to look good. Grabbing her purse she looked at the few bottles of body spray she had, and then thought about all of her sister's perfume.  
Nora walked into Imogen's room and inspected her perfume collection, she finally decided on the bottle of Viva La Juicy perfume.

She lightly spritzed herself and headed down the stairs.  
"Finally Nora, normally we're running late because of Imogen… not you." Jason said to his daughter.  
"Sorry." Nora breathed out self-consciously looking down at the floor.  
"You look very pretty Nora." Lillian said and then looked over to her daughter, "You both look beautiful."

"Well, now that you're both down here… I got you both something." He said as he handed Nora a small mesh light blue bag that tied shut with a dark blue ribbon.

She looked at it confused, and then over to her sister as Jason handed Imogen a small pink mesh bag, that tied with a dark pink ribbon.

"Open them." Lillian urged as she exchanged looks with her husband.

The sisters slowly opened the small bags.

Imogen's bag contained a small silver heart locket, with an open design on the front, it hung from a glittery delicate looking silver chain.

Nora's bag contained a similar necklace with a heart locket pendant with a silver lace design outside of the heart, it hung from a thicker chain and her necklace looked more edgier than Imogen's.

"Thank you?" Nora said, with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah dad, not like I don't love getting presents and I love this necklace… but what's the occasion?" She asked.

"You're father and I thought it was just nice to get you both something. Both of your grades are up and we're just so proud of you both." Lillian told her daughter and stepdaughter.

"It will go with anything. Thank you." Imogen said smiling.

Imogen's mom helped her put her necklace on but Nora ran upstairs and hung it over the corner of her full body length mirror.

She decided she wasn't in the mood to wear it that night.

They had filled the lockets with vervain a few days ago. The town's animal attacks were growing and with them being on the council they knew vampires were responsible for the attacks.

As they all headed for the door, Lillian's phone rang. It was the hospital; they were short staffed and needed her to come in to work.

As Nora and Imogen got into the backseat of their dad's car, they waved bye to Lillian as she pulled out of the driveway.

Jason got in the driver's seat and backed out of the driveway.

Imogen took a deep breath, not sure of what to expect for the night.  
Her forehead wrinkled and she sniffed the air again, "Nora… are you wearing my perfume?" Imogen asked

"Umm… yeah, I hope you don't mind. All I have is like 3 bottles of body spray from Wal-Mart." Nora admitted.

"No it's fine, you can use it whenever. I'm just surprised, you never borrow my perfume." Imogen said.

Nora looked over to Imogen and smiled.

Imogen's eyes went to Nora's shiny, pink tinted lips.

"Is that my new lip gloss?" Imogen asked her.

Nora reached into her purse and pulled the tube of pink glittery Strawberry flavored lip gloss out and held it out.

"I hadn't even opened that yet…" Imogen said, wondering if Nora's sudden interest in her appearance had anything to with the guy she kept seeing her with.

But she didn't want to bring it up in front of their father, he didn't care if the girls dated, but he liked to tease them, and Imogen knew how easily Nora got embarrassed by their dads teasing.

"You can keep it… I'm going shopping with Caroline next weekend, I'll just pick up another." Imogen said pushing her sisters hand back.  
"Thank you." Nora said as she dropped it back in her purse.

"You know… you don't have much make-up or perfume. Maybe you should come with us, we could invite Elena and Bonnie to. Have a girls day." Imogen offered.

"Maybe, but you guys never go to the same stores I do." Nora reminded her.

"We'll come to a compromise; we just haven't hung out a lot." Imogen thought out loud.

"Okay." Nora agreed.  
As they reached the town square Jason parked and looked over the seat at his two daughters.

"I know this was supposed to be a family night, but seeing as how Lillian had to work… I can't imagine you both are dying to spend tonight with your dear old dad." He said.  
The girls stayed quiet.

He laughed, "That's fine. I have a few things I need to talk to sheriff Forbes about, so you both go have fun with your friends."

"Thanks dad." They both said smiling.

"You both need a ride back home at the end of tonight?" He asked.

"No, I'll get a ride from one of the girls." Imogen said.

"I'll either get a ride or walk, I'm good." Nora said as she opened her door and got out.

"Hey Nora…" Imogen started to bring up the lunch date she had seen her sister on.

"I'll see you later, have fun." Nora said as she walked away.

"Okay… not like I wanted to have a sisterly bonding moment or anything." Imogen muttered, as she saw her sister disappear into the crowd.

"Nora, hey!" she heard, turning around to see Bonnie behind her.

"Bonnie!" Nora exclaimed smiling.

"Wow… look at you." Bonnie said, noticing her friends clothes.  
Nora's smile fell.

"No, I didn't mean that in a bad way… I mean wow, as in if Tyler sees you in that he's going to be sorry he lost you." Bonnie said smiling.

"What?" Nora questioned, confused.

"That's why you're dressed up right? You're trying to make him jealous." Bonnie voiced her assumptions.

"No, to be honest I haven't even thought of Tyler much." Nora admitted, a little stunned at herself. But it was the truth, she had dressed up for Damon, and it didn't even occur to her that Tyler was going to be there.

"Then who are you dressed up for?" Bonnie pushed, happy to see Nora was starting to get out there.

"Umm, it's kind of too early to say anything. And I don't even know if he likes me… I'm so awkward around him... But he keeps talking to me, so that's something right?" Nora asked.

Bonnie smiled at her, "That's definitely something. You really seem to be coming into your own, I really think you and Tyler breaking up was the best thing for you."

"Me too!" Nora admitted.

"Alright, well. I promised I'd meet up with Elena… so you go, find this mystery guy and have fun!" Bonnie said.

"Please don't tell anyone that I'm interested in a guy. I just don't want to jinx anything." Nora admitted a look of worry on her face.

"I won't." Bonnie said as she leaned in and hugged her.

Bonnie gasped and pulled back her eyes wide and watery as they stung with tears. She had another vision, similar to the one she had before; Nora was in a heated kiss with a stranger, when he lowered his head and bit her neck.

"What happened?" Nora asked.

"Nothing, I just remembered I'm really late on meeting Elena." Bonnie said as she walked away.

Since they had arrived to the event late, the sun was already starting to go down. Nora was disappointed that she hadn't seen Damon yet.

"There you are!" Caroline exclaimed when she saw Nora.

"Here I am." Nora replied, trying to smile.

"Imogen said you were wandering around here, so I got you a candle." Caroline said as she handed her a white candle with a clear cup around it to catch the melted wax.

"Thank you. Do you have a lighter?" Nora asked her.

"Uh no." Caroline said.

"Then how are we supposed to light them?" Nora asked.

"Did you not read the pamphlet about tonight?" Caroline asked.

"I guess I skipped that part." Nora said.

Caroline sighed and smoothed her yellow dress out, "You find someone with an already lit candle and light yours, and then you light someone else. It's a sign of unity and our community standing together."

"Right." Nora nodded, as she looked around for someone with a lit candle.  
When she looked back Caroline was gone.

Nora started looking for people without a candle to give hers away, the only real reason she had come that night was because Damon said he'd hoped she'd show.

"Now who's stalking who?" Damon asked as he walked up to Nora.

Her green eyes lit up as she turned around and saw Damon.  
She looked down as he touched the flame from his lit candle to hers.

"Well, you snuck up on me… so I'd say you're still the one doing to the stalking." She said, smiling.

He smiled back at her, and glanced around the crowded town square.  
"So I see you did make it tonight. You kept making it seem like you weren't going to be here." Damon reminded her.

"I hadn't really planned on it, these town functions… bonding the members of the community together isn't really my thing." Nora admitted.

"What changed your mind?" He asked, his eyes intense as he looked at her.

She could feel her heart start to race as her eyes met his. Her first instinct was to remain quiet or excuse herself. But then she could hear Imogen's voice in her head, '_fake it till you make it_.' The first day of their freshman year, Nora was so nervous about attending a new school.

Imogen had told her that the best way to gain confidence when you didn't have it, was to fake it at first. The more other people seemed to think you were confident, the more you'd believe yourself.

Even though she had butterflies in her stomach, and she couldn't remember the last time anyone had made her that nervous she managed a confident smile and said, "Well, you see… there's this guy who's been following me around quite a bit, and he said he hoped I'd make it tonight. So here I am."

Damon laughed.

"Thank you for lunch earlier today by the way, well our almost lunch I should add. I don't think I mentioned that before we both rushed off." Nora said, looking up at him.

"No, you didn't thank me. Very rude of you, Nora." Damon joked.

Nora laughed and she felt sick to her stomach as she faked more confidence and said, "It was rude, I guess we'll have to go out again so I can make it up to you and hopefully next time I won't have to leave before we even get to eat."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Damon questioned, he could feel how uncomfortable she was.

Nora felt her cheeks darken as she looked up at him, "Yeah… I kind of am."

He could hear her heart racing inside of her chest as she spoke and waited on his answer.

"Well, what kind of man would I be if I denied a lady of what she wants?" Damon replied.

Nora's eyes widened, "Is that a yes?" she asked.

He raised his eyebrows and nodded at her surprised reaction.

"Good…" She said, breathing a small sigh of relief.

"You seem extremely surprised." Damon pointed out.

"I'm not normally the one this kind of stuff works for, it's always my sister. She and Elena both, they're just comfortable around people and effortlessly get everyone to like them. And I'm just… me." She said.

Damon looked at her, not entirely sure what it was but there was something about the way she was that just drew him to her. But just like earlier today he pushed the thought aside, not wanting to get too close to her. He would just get what he needed then leave her, like he had done to other girls in the past.

"We're a great match you know. You can't go one conversation without getting creepy, and I can't go an entire conversation without being awkward." She said.  
Then her eyes widened at what she had said.

"And it just gets worse…" Nora said her eyes meeting his as she shook her head back and forth.

Before Damon could respond Nora blew the flame on her candle out and dropped it in the one of the metal trashcans placed around the square.

Damon did the same with his candle and looked at her as she looked to the side, her eyebrows together in frustration at herself.

"Nora?" Damon questioned.

"You will not hurt my feelings if you back out of our future date…" She told him, thinking if she was someone else, she wouldn't want to be around her.

When he didn't respond she looked up at him expectantly. His eyes locked with hers and her heart started to beat even faster inside of her chest.

A small smirk spread over his lips as he could hear her heart racing even quicker than before. Nora's eyes widened as he started to bring his face closer to hers; she hadn't expected him to try and kiss her, at least not until their date, possibly not till the 2nd or 3rd date.

But as her eyes focused on his lips, she couldn't deny how badly she wanted to feel them on her own. So she closed her eyes and allowed the kiss to happen. His arms wrapped around her and she held onto his shoulders as their mouths moved hungrily together.

Damon's arms tightened around her body as he slid his tongue between her slightly parted lips, her taste intoxicated him; he wanted more. Nora moved her hands up from his shoulders and held onto the back of his neck and head, turning her head slightly and deepening the kiss as his tongue tangled with hers.

His touch and their kiss was slowly setting her senses on fire, she leaned in pressing her body against his. They were so absorbed in each other, that they forgot they were in the middle of the crowded town square. The comet passed through the sky above them, and the crowd clapped and cheered, but they didn't hear a bit of it.

~{([~])}~

After being left behind by her father and sister, Imogen walked through the crowd of people looking for someone she knew. She finally caught sight of Caroline and made her way toward her best friend.

"Hey! You're here." Caroline said happily, as she quickly hugged her. After the hug, she took a step back and glanced around before asking. "Where's the fam? I thought the Foster bunch were coming together."

"We were but mom got called into work before we even left the house so dad sent us on our way while he went to go talk to your mom." Imogen explained.

"Mom is probably putting him to work right now as we speak." Caroline said with a laugh.

"You're probably right." Imogen said back with a laugh of her own.

"Well where is Nora then?" Caroline asked confused, then added, "She is almost always with you since she has no friends."

"Care!" Imogen called out angrily, letting her know she didn't appreciate the comment.

"I'm sorry!" Caroline quickly said when she realized what she said, then added, "What I meant was, besides us, she has no friends. So if she's not with you or me, then where is she?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders at the question, then said, "I don't know. She's around here somewhere."

"Hey, you want to help me hand out candles?" Caroline asked, changing the subject.

"Sure." Imogen answered. "I don't have anything better to do." She thought to herself.

For the next several minutes, Imogen walked around the town square, handing out a small white candle to everyone she came across that didn't already have one. Then after explaining to them how they had to light it, she would continue to move on to the next person.

She was down to a few candles when she heard her cell phone begin to ring. She held the candles against her chest with one hand as she reached into her coat to pull out her phone. She looked at the caller id and sighed when she saw it was Cole. He had been trying to call her on and off all day, but she still wasn't in the mood to talk to him. It wasn't just cause of the Carrie thing, even though that was a big part of it, it was also because she was tired of it all.

When she first started dating Cole everything was perfect, he was the perfect boyfriend like he made people believe he was, but then months later, he changed. It started small, with him losing his temper over something stupid like their reservations getting mixed up or a loud mouth jerk talking through a movie they were trying to watch, then he began to turn his anger on her.

If she made one wrong move, he would turn on her and chew her out. The first few times he did that she would cry, wondering what she did wrong, then her bad temper would kick in, which made him even madder at her and if that wasn't bad enough, lately he started getting grabby. Holding her arm tight if she tried to leave in the middle of a fight or like last night in the woods, if he was drunk and horny, he couldn't keep his hands off of her, no matter how many times she said no.

She felt like all she had ever done in the relationship was make excuses for him and she was tired of it. Her sister and even little Jeremy Gilbert was right, she deserved better.

With that thought in mind, she decided to ignore the call and slipped the phone back in her pocket. She handed out the last few candles she had in her hands, then decided to just stand still for a while and enjoy her night; she knew once she did talk to Cole, her peaceful night would be over. Not only would he be mad about her ignoring him all day, but he also would not take a break up well either.

He had always told her she belong to him and only him until he said otherwise, but she just can't do it anymore, she had to break free. She needed to do like her sister did with Tyler, just break it off and walk away. It might not be easy but she knew she could do it; if Nora could do it, she could do it.

Speaking of the jerk Nora dumped, Imogen scoffed when she saw Tyler across the square with a group of his friends. When their eyes locked, he nodded his head at her, as if to say 'hey', causing her to roll her eyes and turn her head. Tyler still didn't know what her problem with him now was.

It was hard to believe but at one point they were friends. Then high school happened and she began to date Cole while he began to date her sister Nora; after that Imogen was always pissed at him for some reason or another and normally he didn't care, but last night he actually found himself enjoying her company.

He was reminded of how much fun he used to have with her and how close they once were, and as much as he hated to admit it, he didn't like the fact that she was mad at him again and he was going to find out what the problem was, whether she liked it or not.

Imogen groaned quietly to herself when she saw Tyler begin to walk towards her out of the corner of her eye. Before he could get close to her though, she quickly turned around and begia to walk in the opposite direction, wanting to be as far away from him as possible. She had just walked by two dark office buildings that had closed early for the festival, when she heard her cell phone begin to ring again.

She came to a stop as she pulled the phone out again and glance at the caller ID like she did before. When she saw it was Cole again, she threw her head back and groaned as she said. "Why won't everyone just leave me alone."

Like before, she ignored the call and slipped her phone back into her coat pocket. She glanced around and realized she had walked far away from the town square where everyone was standing around waiting for the comet. She knew she should start making her way back toward the crowd, but honestly she just wanted to be alone and decided to walk even further from the square. With that thought in mind, she went to take a step to begin walking again when she felt someone grab her arm roughly and pulled her to a stop.

She glanced behind her and felt her eyes widen a bit when she saw it was Cole, a very angry, pissed off Cole.  
"What the hell is your problem? Why have you been ignoring me all day?" Cole snapped, as he tightened his grip on her arm and shook her.  
"What the hell is _your_ problem?" Imogen snapped back, and then added as she tried to pull her arm away, "let me go."

"Wrong answer baby." Cole barked. He glanced off to the right and saw a dark, deserted alley, and headed toward it, pulling her along behind him. Once alone in the alley, he swung her around, causing her shoulder to slam into the brick wall hard. She grabbed onto her hurt shoulder as she turned around to face him, with her other hand she pushed her blond hair out of her face to shoot him an angry look.

"Don't look at me like that. This is _your_ fault." Cole yelled, as he pointed a finger in her face, causing her to jump at his outburst.

"You know what Cole? I'm not doing this right now. Not now, not ever, so just leave me alone. We're done." Imogen said, hoping she sounded braver than she felt.

Cole narrowed his eyes at her in anger, how dare she dump him? She was his until he was done with her and right now, he wasn't done with her.

Imogen watched as Cole took several deep angry breaths, as much as she would hate to admit it, he was actually scaring her right now. She had always told Nora she didn't think Cole would ever _really_ hurt her, but with the way he was looking at her right now, she wasn't sure about that anymore and with them being alone in an alley, she was quickly starting to realize it wasn't a good idea.

Imogen took a small step from the wall, careful to not set him off. She hoped to just sneak past him without another word, but she was wrong. He quickly stepped in front of her, blocking her from leaving then pushed her roughly back toward the brick wall. She gasped in surprise when her back slammed hard into the wall.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Cole roared.

"I'm sorry Cole, but I'm can't do this anymore." Imogen said, hoping to get through to him.

"What have I always told you?" Cole yelled, as he took a big step toward her. His face was only inches from hers as he continued to yell, "You belong to me until I am done with you and trust me babe, we are _not_ done."

"I don't care what you said Cole. I am done." Imogen yelled, as she laid her hands against his chest and pushed him away from her.

Cole went a few steps back from the push, then walked back toward her and without a word backhanded her across the face, causing her to fall to the ground from the force. She laid a hand on her red, tender cheek before looking up at him with a shocked expression on her face. He hit her. He had done what Nora always said and what she had deep down always feared, he had slapped her.

Cole knew he should have felt bad for hurting her, but he was too mad to care at the moment. If she had not stood up to him and pissed him off, he never would have hurt her. He held out a hand to help her stand up, but when she slapped his hand away and yelled at him to leave her alone, he snapped and saw red. He was tired of her mouth and needed to teach her a lesson she would never forget.  
With his hand still out, he reached forward and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her up from the ground. She gasped out in pain and grabbed onto his wrist, trying to pull it away, but he was too strong for her.

"You think you can boss me around? Huh? Did you forget who I am?" Cole snarled as he gripped her shoulders and slammed her back against the brick wall at each question.

Imogen felt tears fill her eyes at the pain; she had no doubt that her back was going to be bruised and sore the next morning. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out as he continued to slam her into the wall while yelling, "You are lucky I even gave you the time of day. If it wasn't for me, you would be a little nobody like your big mouth sister. No one wanted you before I did and no one will want you after."

After he finished his outburst, he wrapped his hand through her hair and forced her to look at him as he asked, "Did you hear me? No one wants you Imogen, you're worthless and not worth the drama it took me to get into your pants."

Imogen whimpered when he tugged on her hair again. Even if she was in pain, she couldn't stop her smart-ass mouth as she said, "Yeah well trust me, the sex wasn't worth it."

Cole roared out in anger at her comment and slammed her head against the brick wall before letting her go and taking a step back. Imogen cried out and felt her legs give out as she slide down the wall in pain. She laid her hand on the side of her head then pulled it back to see a bit of blood on her hand.

Cole ignored her tears as he grabbed her free arm and pulled her up from the hard ground, he was really getting tired of all of her blubbering. But once her feet hit the ground, she fell back against the wall, which was the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. She watched in horror as Cole raised his arm, ready to strike her again.

She squeezed her eyes closed, causing a few new tears to rain down her face. She tried to brace herself for the pain she was about to experience, she knew she should try to fight back, but was too drained and in too much pain to do much but take the beating at this point. She flinched when she heard a shuffle, thinking it was Cole getting ready to lower his hand and hit her again, but instead she heard a groan and what sounded like two people fighting.

She snapped her eyes open and felt her mouth drop open in shock when she saw an angry Cole laying on his back with an equally pissed off Tyler over him as he repeatedly punched Cole over and over again.

"Ty..." Imogen breathed out painfully as she slid back down to the ground.  
Somehow through all his anger, Tyler heard her pain-filled voice and turned his head to look at her; he felt his heart drop when he saw the shape she was in and he couldn't believe it was his own best friend, her boyfriend, Cole that had done this to her. He knew Cole had a temper, he had seen it more than once during football practice or during a game, but to see Cole using her as a punching bag was enough to make him extremely pissed off.

While Tyler's head was turned to look at her, Cole took that moment to swing and get in a few punches of his own before pushing Tyler off of him. The two boys quickly stood up and faced each other, both seething with anger as they stared each other down until Cole reached forward and pushed Tyler as hard as he could, then called out, "What the fuck man?"

As Tyler continued to stare at Cole, he glanced over at Imogen, who was looking over at Tyler with a with a worried expression on her face. Cole looked back over at Tyler and chuckled as he said, "Don't tell me you're trying to take up for her, cause trust me man, she's not worth it. She's not worth our friendship, so think really carefully about your next move. You don't want me as an enemy Lockwood."

Tyler didn't say anything, just stood still as he breathed in and out and tried to control his anger before he snapped and really hurt his former friend. He and Imogen might not have been close friends in years, but he wasn't about to just walk away and let Cole continue to beat her. He would gladly give up his friendship with Cole for that, cause if that was how Cole was, he wanted nothing to do with him.

He knew Imogen didn't deserve that, she deserved better.  
When Tyler didn't make a move to stop him, Cole walked over to Imogen and roughly grabbed her arm, pulling her up to her feet and causing her to cry out in pain. He held on to her arm as he tried to pull her along behind him as he tried to walk away.

"Let me go!" Imogen screamed at Cole, as she pulled as hard as she could, trying to get her arm free. Finally after a few tugs she was able to free her arm from his tight hold.

Cole sighed out in frustration when she pulled away from him, he turned around to reach for her again, but before he could grab her, Tyler sprang into action again. He grabbed the front of Cole's shirt and pushed him into the brick wall. Tyler kept him pinned to the wall by pressing his arm across Cole's throat, slightly choking him.

"You lay another hand on her again and I swear I will kill you." Tyler threatened, as he applied pressure to his throat, causing Cole to gasp for breath.

"Fuck you and your friendship. I want nothing to do with you and neither does she. You are going to leave her the hell alone or else, do you understand me?" Tyler hissed out.

Cole nodded his head the best he could then took a big gulp of air when Tyler finally released him. Tyler took a step back away from him and stood in front of Imogen as the two watched Cole bent over and take in another gulp of air. Once he could breathe normally again, he straightened up and looked at the two in front of him. He narrowed his eyes at the both of them and pointed a finger as he barked out, "This isn't over."

Without another word, he turned around and left the alley, leaving Imogen and Tyler alone.

When she saw he was really gone and this horrible night was finally over, Imogen took a deep breath and slowly released it. She staggered back a few steps and leaned against the wall, the little bit of energy she had left was now gone as she sank down to the ground and pulled her legs up to her chest.

At hearing movement behind him, Tyler spun around and saw her sitting on the ground with her chin rested on her drawn up knees. He walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her as he looked her over. He felt anger towards Cole all over again when he saw the dried blood on the side of her head from the cut as well as the bruises on her cheek and arms from all the times he grabbed her to pull her up. He cautiously reached out and pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, taking her surprise by his action and then by his words when he asked softly, "Are you ok?"

Imogen raised her head and looked up at him with watery eyes as she whispered,

"I will be. Thank you."  
"Let's get you up and get you home." Tyler said, as he carefully grabbed her hands, not wanting to hurt her anymore as he helped pull her up.  
Once her feet were on the ground, she felt the heel from one of her shoes break, causing her to wobble off balance and gasp in surprise.

Tyler quickly wrapped an arm around her waist to keep her upright as he asked, "What's wrong?"

"My stupid heel broke." Imogen answered; as she reached down to pull off the broken shoe. She looked at the shoe then whined, "Great, just great. These were my favorite pair and now they are ruined. Everything is ruined."

If it wasn't for the sad circumstance, Tyler would have laughed at her for her mini-freak out, but he knew that was the last thing she needed. After all she just went through she had a right to break down.

He reached up to wipe the old and fresh tears from her face as he said, "Hey, it's ok. You're still looking hot tonight, broke shoe or no broke shoe."

Imogen softly chuckled at his comment then said, "I know you're lying but I don't care. I needed to hear that."

"Trust me Gen, you are just as beautiful now as you always have been." Tyler said honestly, as his eyes roamed over her face. He wouldn't lie, he had always found her beautiful and no little bruise would change that.

Imogen bit her bottom lip as she watched him look at her with a look she had never seen on Tyler's face before, it was a look of lust mixed with something she couldn't put her finger on. She had never seen him look at other girls like that before either. It was the kind of look a leading man would use when he looked at the leading lady he was falling in love with in a romantic movie, but she knew that could not be the reason he was looking at her, there had to be another reason. He probably just pitied her and felt sorry for her.

Imogen lightly shook her head, pushing all those thoughts from her head. She reached back to remove Tyler's arm that was still wrapped around her waist, then took a step back as she said, "Thank you again Ty, for helping me, but I should get home now."

Tyler, coming out of the daze he was in, reached out to grab her hand, stopping her. He wasn't even sure why he was stopping her from walking away, all he knew was he wanted to be around her more, which surprised the hell out of him. This was Imogen for crying out loud, the girl he grew up with, his ex-girlfriend's half-sister, but despite all of that, he wanted to be around her, which he just chalked up to he was concerned for her. That had to be it right?

"I'll take you home." Tyler offered.

"No, it's ok. You've done enough, thank you." Imogen said back with a grateful smile.

"You uh, you really want your Dad to see you like that? Or Nora? Your friends?" Tyler asked, trying to reason with her.

"Good point." Imogen said softly, as she lowered her head, letting her hair fall forward and hopefully cover up the nasty bruise on her face.

Tyler walked closer to her and pushed her hair back, she had no reason to hide or be ashamed, then without another word, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, letting her lean against him as he led her out of the dark alley. He tried to ignore the way his heart raced when her arm wrapped around his waist and she laid her head on his shoulder. He reminded himself that he was only doing this out of concern for an old friend, that was it and nothing more.

* * *

**A/N – Thank you all for reading! We really hope you're enjoying this story, we're having a great time working together on the chapters and ideas for the future of the story!**

**We've got some big plans for the next chapters, there's going to be plenty of drama and things will start heating up. ^_^**

**We've both made sets and banners for this and some other stories on polyvore and photobucket. Links can be found on my profile and on Miss E Charlotte's profile! While you're there check out her other stories, they're amazing!**

**I also have a few other Vampire Dairies stories posted.**

**Thanks to everyone who added this to their favorites/ subscribed for alerts! **

**If you're a fan and want to see this story continued please don't be silent about it. Leave a review and let us know you'd like to see more. **

**We both focus our attention on our most popular stories so, the more interest there is in a story the faster we'll get updates finished and posted.**

**Hope you are all having a good 2013 so far! ^_^**


	6. Let it Burn and Let it Feel Alright

**Let it Burn and Let it Feel Alright**

* * *

_**~A/N – This is a collaborative piece written by myself and my very good friend Miss E Charlotte.~**_

* * *

Pulling back from the kiss Nora and Damon both stared at each other, their faces showing the surprise at the intensity of their kiss.

Nora blinked and looked around, her cheeks darkening as she saw the people around them staring at them.

She wasn't sure how long they had been tangled up with each other but she could see the crowd thinning out slightly as they moved onto the other festivities of the night.

"I… umm. I should probably head home." Nora managed to say, even though she was still trying to catch her breath.

Damon's eyes still bore into hers as he was also shocked at the feelings running through him.

"I'll take you…" He said.

She thought about protesting, but her legs still felt weak and she wasn't sure she'd be able to walk.

"Ok." She said, her body tensing slightly as he placed a hand on her lower back and started to lead her through the crowd.

He drove her home and parked on the street outside of her house; looking over at her as she dug through her purse until she found her house keys, neither one of her parents were home so the house would be locked up.

His mind drifted back to the kiss and the way it had made him feel; but as quickly as those thoughts leaked into his head, he pushed them away.

He had returned to Mystic Falls for one reason; to open the tomb under the church and get Katherine back. He reminded himself now was not the time to start getting attached to anyone in the town.

But even knowing that, he looked at her as she started to reach for the door handle to the car to open her door; he also couldn't deny how he felt when he was around her.

But again, he pushed the feelings to the side; told himself the only reason he was drawn to her was because she was attractive.

Taking a deep breath she looked over at him, "I'm not even going to pretend that I know what to say… I guess, goodnight?"

He laughed at her honesty; the way she never failed to sound awkward.

"Goodnight, Nora." He responded.

Nodding she opened her door and decided to cut across her yard instead of following the sidewalk down to her driveway, immediately regretting the decision when she tripped over an uneven spot in the yard.

Landing on her butt, she groaned more from embarrassment than pain.

Looking over she picked up her house key and purse, but remained sitting on the ground where she had fallen.

"Are you alright?" She heard Damon say.

"Not really… but my pride is more busted than my ass." She admitted, sitting in the same spot.

"Come on, get up." He said as he extended a hand to her.

After effortlessly pulling her to her feet he walked her to her front door, the security light came on once it sensed their movement, and he saw how pink her cheeks were.

She unlocked the door and walked in turning around she smiled at him, "Thanks for driving me home… again."

His eyes traced her facial features before his sight slowly slid down her body; looking back at her, he locked his eyes with her.

"Invite me in." He said, using compulsion on her.

"Damon, you should come inside." She said.

"Thank you." He said as he paused before walking through the door frame into the house.

Shutting the door behind him, Nora's eyes widened. She couldn't believe she had just invited him inside of her house.

She wasn't sure what time her mom or dad would be coming home that night, and she wasn't entirely sure why she had even asked him to come inside.

Damon looked around the large living room, his eyes traveled up to the tall vaulted ceiling.

Nora glanced around the living room, before she turned and headed up the stairs without saying anything to him.

She was going to lay her coat and purse down in her room while she thought of a reason to tell him he was going to have to leave.

She looked over to the dark green chair in the corner of her room by here mirror, the chair was over flowing with clothes. Walking up she dropped her purse and coat on top of the pile.

She took her bracelets off and started to take her earrings out when she saw the necklace her dad had given her before the town event hanging from the corner of her mirror.

The necklace was filled with vervain; Nora's dad and step-mom were on the council and knew vampires were back in town.

Removing the necklace she had on, she put the vervain filled necklace on.

Taking a deep breath and trying to think of a reason to get rid of him before any of her family came home, she looked in the mirror and gasped when she saw Damon was in the room with her.

"Did I scare you?" He questioned a smirk on his face.

"Yeah… I didn't expect you to follow me." She admitted.

"You just walked away… not saying anything, I thought maybe you were going to show me around." He replied, suavely.

Nora smiled, knowing she should be sending him on his way; but the more she was around him the more she wanted to stay around him.

"Well… this is where I spend all of my time. Sorry it's such a mess." She said, as she motioned around her room.

Damon looked around her room, the walls were a deep ocean blue, black curtains with blue peace signs covered the 2 large windows that looked out in the backyard.

Her walls were covered with posters from movies and rock bands, a small fish bowl sat on a table in the corner with a bright red beta fish swimming around in the water.

She walked over to him, and was getting ready to tell him she was looking forward to their next date, but it was getting late.

But instead she stood beside him and watched him as he took in the color scheme and chaos of her room.

"It's a disaster… I know. But like I said I spend all of my time in here… so umm, just ignore the dirty dishes in the corner." She said, as she nodded to the corner of the room where her metal desk was.

Her MacBook was closed in the middle and there were a few dirty dishes and cups sitting on the corner.

He shook his head and let out a small laugh, it was exactly how he would have pictured her room to look.

"You don't spend time downstairs with your family?" He asked, looking over at her.

"I try to eat dinner with them through the week, but I don't know… even though this is my home, I still kind of feel out of place. It's just easier to stay in my room." She told him, honestly.

He nodded, a small part of him sympathizing with the feeling.

"Damon…" She said, her voice trailing off when she realized how the last thing she wanted to do was send him away.

He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to talk.

Before she was able to stop herself, her eyes moved down his face to his lips.

Her stomach jumping at remembering the kiss they had shared earlier in the night.

"I… umm." She stopped, she really didn't want to tell him to leave.

"You… what?" He questioned as he turned and faced her.

He could hear heart racing as his eyes met hers.

She took a step forward, and it was only seconds before their mouths were joined again.

His hands rubbed down her sides and he pulled her body closer to his.

She held onto his head and the back of his neck, pulling him closer to her.

As he held her closer to him, she could feel herself come alive in his arms.

Not just physically alive, he was making her feel on so many levels. She wasn't even entirely sure what she was feeling, but it was a whole new feeling.

Ever since the car accident when she lost her mother, a part of her had stayed numb and dead to the world around her. Over the years she had been able to ignore the deadened feelings, and the void that the numbness left her with.

But when he touched her, there wasn't any part of her that was numb. She was wide awake and she loved the feeling.

She ran her hands down his shoulders and arms, her fingers gripping his leather jacket tightly as his tongue invaded her mouth.

Pulling back from the kiss, her eyes searched his face. His breathing was just as shallow as hers.

She took a deep breath and turned around; he thought she was going to tell him he needed to go. But instead she shut her bedroom door, and locked the handle before reaching up and flipping the light switch.

Her room was dimly lit from the moon and streetlights shining in through the window, and the purple and green lava lamp on her dresser.

Her mouth collided with his again, and she moaned against his open mouth as his hands slid under her shirt.

He compelled her to invite him inside so he could come in whenever he wanted to, he had planned on getting at least 1 more kiss from her before he left.

But he really hadn't anticipated things moving as quickly as they were.

He pulled her dark purple spaghetti strap shirt off kissing down her neck and across the front of her chest above the dark blue bra she was wearing.

Raising his head he fiercely reclaimed her mouth with his, the intensity of the kiss growing when her tongue found its way between his lips; her taste intoxicated him again.

She pushed his leather coat of his arms onto the floor behind them, breaking their kiss only long enough to pull his black t-shirt off and look down at his bare upper body.

Grabbing her face he pulled her mouth back to his, she matched the hungriness of his movements as she ran her fingers over his toned, muscular arms. Feeling his firm flesh under her touch, she thought for a moment how his skin felt a little cooler than she had expected.

Still tangled in each other's arms they made their way over to her unmade bed, falling back on dark orange and red tie-dyed blankets and sheets.

Nora moved up in the bed, until her head landed on the matching pillows. Taking a deep breath as he moved her and his tongue explored the inside of her mouth some more.

When she felt Damon's hands slide under her back, she leaned up from the mattress allowing him to unhook her bra and pull it from her body.

He looked down at her bare skin and kissed her mouth, before trailing down her neck, his movements getting a little rougher as he could feel and hear her blood pumping under her skin.

Pulling his face from her neck, he focused on her exposed chest; her mouth hung open and she panted for air as she could feel his hot mouth on her sensitive skin.

Looking to the side she saw her iPod dock on her bedside table, she knew her parents and sister could be home any minute.

Letting go of him she reached over and hit the play button, immediately rock music thudded through the speakers; neither one of them hearing or paying attention to the music.

She was so absorbed in the feelings rushing through her, she hadn't even realized he was only in boxers and was now tugging her tight jeans off her hips and legs.

He let out a small laugh at her light purple underwear; just like everything else about her and her room, it didn't match with the bra she had been wearing.

Nora rose up and looked over their bodies as he tossed her jeans off the side of the bed.

"Don't laugh at me… I didn't expect this to happen." She said, a smile toying at her lips as she fought for her breath.

Moving back over her, he rubbed his hands down the sides of her body and kissed her before saying "Would it have mattered?"

She breathed out and her honey sweet breath tickled his lips as she spoke, "I don't think so… I still probably wouldn't have taken the time to dig through the dresser and closet to find a matching set.

He couldn't help but smile at her honesty.

"It's the truth…" She admitted a she rubbed her hands down his firm, bare chest.

"I know, that's the funny part." He said, as he leaned back down and she pushed up from the mattress to kiss him again.

As his body moved against hers, she felt his hardened arousal pressing against her inner thigh and gripped onto his upper arms tightly.

She was breathing so loudly it was causing her body to shake as he kissed down her body and grabbed onto the sides of her underwear, watching her face as she rose up and allowed him to slide them down.

Once his boxers were gone, he settled back over her, positioning himself between her legs.

He rubbed his hands over the smooth, soft, warm skin on her outer thighs before he pushed himself inside of her warm heat with one deep movement.

She gasped, her eyes closing from her want being filled.

Moaning against his shoulder she, raised up from the mattress to match every rock of his hips.

His mouth found hers again, their tongues dancing and curling as she clutched onto his back and he picked up speed and depth of his thrusts.

Breaking the kiss her eyes met his as she fought for her breath, moving her legs some to accommodate his fast movements.

Nora tried to keep their rhythm going but her movements were starting to become frantic as she couldn't lie still beneath him.

She arched up from the bed, managing to find his lips with her own as her nails and fingertips dug into the cool skin on his back.

Pulling back from the kiss, her body started to shudder and he slowed his movements a little, but delved deeper into her with every movement.

She wasn't able to stop the loud, pleasured moan that escaped her lips as he pushed harder inside of her.

Leaning down he kissed her neck while she desperately clutched onto him as she felt a dizzying explosion of ecstasy start to bubble in her as his every almost painfully deep thrust was sending her over the edge.

She gasped and breathed loudly against his cheek as the sensations erupted and her body convulsed against his.

He kept pounding his body against hers groaning into her ear as her body clenched and released over and over again around his straining manhood as she came.

With her body still shaking in his arms as she was barely starting to come down from the climax, he slammed harder into her as he started to lose control.

He roughly moved against her as he had his own jarring, pulsing release.

Still connected with her body, it took a few moments to catch his breath before he rose up and looked at her.

Her cheeks were flushed and she was feeling a little dizzy as she looked back at him, both of them still in a state of bliss.

Finally he pressed another hard kiss to her lips, before moving and collapsing on the bed beside her.

Nora looked over at him and then over to her window, before she raised up and un-tangled the blanket and sheet covering them both up.

She looked back at him as he was staring up to the ceiling above her bed where she had some blue and green glow in the dark star stickers.

Her eyes were starting to close, she was exhausted from the day. She was going to wait a few moments before she planned on telling him that he needed to go before her family came home.

Then it occurred to her that they might already all be home.

Before she could give much more thought to the situation, she started to drift off to sleep.

Damon took a deep breath and looked over at her to see she was already asleep.

He thought for a moment how she was so different from any other person he had met, and he couldn't deny that the longer he spent with her the more he really enjoyed her company.

Then he raised up and looked at her, reminding himself that she was just a small town girl. Nothing special and he had no reason to be getting attached to her or anyone else in Mystic Falls.

He was on a mission to free Katherine from the tomb, and he couldn't let anyone get in the way of that.

But through his determination not to care for her, he had a small smile on his face as he watched her sleeping peacefully.

The smile fell from his lips, and his emotions were replaced by anger.

He was getting distracted with her; the more time he spent around her the less he thought about Katherine.

His mind drifted to thoughts of how nobody would accept what he was, and truthfully he didn't want them to.

It was easier to get by with people hating and fearing him, he knew Nora would be no different. He reasoned to himself that the minute she found out his secret she'd run as fast as she could in the opposite direction.

That was exactly what he needed, to keep her away from him before he got even more attached.

Leaning over her he kissed her lips, waking her up.

"Damon… what are you still doing here?" She asked, not sure how long she had been asleep.

"I'm starving." He breathed out, his breath hitting her face.

She opened her eyes more and looked at him confused.

Leaning back down he kissed her lips again, sweeping the inside of her mouth with his tongue before he moved his lips over the side of her face.

Nora laid perfectly still her green eyes staring up to the ceiling as a steady sense of fear was growing in her. There was a difference in his movement; the way he was looking at her wasn't anything like it had been earlier in the day.

"Ouch…" she breathed out, as she felt his teeth graze over the tender skin on her neck.

Raising his head, all he could hear was the sound of her blood rushing through her veins from fear.

Nora's eyes widened as his face changed in a way she had never seen before, and he quickly lowered his head to her shoulder.

Her body jerked up from the mattress and she gasped in pain as his teeth cut deep into her skin, and she could feel him sucking on her skin, drinking her blood from the open wound.

So many thoughts were running through her head, an entire range of emotions from all ends of the spectrum: fear, excitement, intrigue and even a small bit of desire as the pain started to dull and she didn't want to admit it to herself, but she almost liked the feeling of him drinking her blood.

Raising her hand on her other arm, she ran her fingers through his hair before dropping her arm over her stomach as she felt weaker.

In shock at her trailing her fingers through his hair, instead of pushing him back brought him back and he knew he needed to stop drinking from her.

Raising his head, he had some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth as his eyes met hers.

She held the eye contact for a few more moments, before her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep; weakened from the loss of blood and still worn out from the day.

Damon continued to stare at her, wondering what she had been thinking before she passed out; he hadn't been able to read the look in her eyes at all.

Laying back and looking back up the ceiling, he drifted off to sleep knowing in the morning she'd wake up and try to run off and he'd have to compel her.

~()~

On the car ride from the town square to the Foster house, Tyler and Imogen stayed silent, both lost in their own thoughts. Imogen laid her head back against the headrest as she went back over everything in her mind. Even if she had always feared that Cole would snap on her one day, she still couldn't believe he had done that. She couldn't believe how quickly things could go wrong in one night.  
Tyler stared straight ahead as he drove down the road, forcing himself not to sneak a peek at Imogen. He thought back to earlier when he led her to his car and she rested her head on his shoulder, causing his heart to race. He couldn't understand why that one little action caused a reaction from him. Plenty of girls had done the exact thing in the past, even Nora, but none of those girls caused that kind of a response from him before. Maybe his body was still working on adrenaline from fighting with Cole; that had to be it.

Either way, he needed to get her off of his mind, he needed to just drop her off, go home and call up one of the many girls who were at his beck and call.

After a night with one of them, that would surely put Imogen out of his mind for good and they could just go back to snapping at each other when they weren't ignoring each other like they had been doing for years.

With that plan in mind, he parked his car on the street in front of her house then without shutting off the car, he turned to finally look at her, planning to tell her 'good night', but his voice trailed off when he noticed her eyes were shut and she was sleeping peacefully.

He silently watched her for a few moments as he tried to talk himself into waking her up. The sooner he got her out of his car, the quicker he could get away from her and the confusing thoughts in his head, but the longer he watched her the more he realized he couldn't do it; after what she went through tonight he couldn't just kick her out of the car and drive away.

Forgetting about his previous plan to cut and run, he shut the car off before he stepped out into the cool night. He made his way over to the passenger side and carefully opened the door, but instead of picked her up right away, he reached inside her coat pocket, trying to find the house key.

When Imogen felt hands touch her, she flashed back to all the times Cole touched her when she didn't want to be touched and began to freak out, fighting against the hands touching her.

"Shh, it's ok Gen. It's just me, it's Tyler." Tyler said, as he quickly removed his hands and held them up in surrender.

At hearing his voice, Imogen slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times before she mumbled, "Tyler? Wh-what's going on?"

"I was looking for your key." Tyler answered.

"Key?" Imogen asked confused as she rubbed at her eyes.

"Your house key." Tyler explained, and then pointed behind him at the big white house as he added, "you're home."

"Oh, sorry." Imogen mumbled, as she avoided his eyes.

"Hey, you ok?" Tyler asked, as he reached out to touch her, then quickly changed his mind and pulled his hand back.

"Mm-hm." Imogen lied, then added, "I just want to get inside. I'm tired."

Tyler watched her as she reached into her coat pocket to remove her keys. He couldn't help but wonder about her reaction when he was looking for the key.

Was she just having a bad dream about what happened earlier and was confused or was there more to it? Whatever the reason, he decided not to push her for an answer, it wasn't really his business.

"Here, I'll help you." Tyler offered, as he reached inside to help her out.

"Thanks." Imogen mumbled, as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself out of the car, staggering a little from the broken heel on her shoes.

"Come here." Tyler said, as he leaned down and easily picked her up, taking her by surprise.

"What are you doing?" Imogen asked with a laugh.

"I don't have time to watch you hobble to the house the way you did across the parking lot earlier." Tyler joked.

"I could just remove my shoes you know, I don't need to be carried." Imogen pointed out.

"And risk getting your feet dirty?" Tyler asked.

"Good point." Imogen answered with a laugh.

Tyler laughed with her as he began to carry her towards the front door, ignoring how well she fit in his arms or the way it felt to hold her. Once he walked up the porch stairs, he sat her feet down on the porch in front of the door and took a small step back.

He knew he should say 'good-bye' and leave, like he had planned earlier, but was finding it hard to move and it seemed like she was having the same problem as she glanced between the door and the key in her hand, but made no move to actually open the door.

The two stayed silent for a moment, until they both opened their mouths and began to speak at the same time, causing them both to laugh until Tyler motioned for her to go first.

"I was just going to say I should be getting inside ..."

"Yeah, that's cool. I should get home." Tyler said, interrupting her.

"Thank you for everything though. Seriously Tyler, I really appreciate everything you did for me tonight." Imogen said with a grateful smile on her face.

"No problem." Tyler said, smiling back.

"Good night Ty." Imogen said.

"Night." Tyler said back, as he turned around to walk away.

Imogen turned around to unlock the door, but instead of doing so, she quickly turned back around and called out his name; causing him to come to a stop before turning around to look at her.

"Do you uh, do you want to come in?" Imogen asked nervously, then added shyly, "mom and dad are still gone and I'm not sure if Nora is home yet and honestly I just uh, I don't want to be alone right now."

Tyler looked at her with a surprised expression on his face. She wasn't usually the type to reach out and ask for help, but there was no way he could deny her when she looked at him the way she was now.

She needed him, just like she did earlier tonight and he was going to be there for her.

Imogen smiled and breathed out a sigh of relief when he nodded his head, answering her question. She normally didn't mind being home alone, but after the Cole thing tonight, she was a little scared to be by herself.

She turned back around to unlock the door then walked inside, with Tyler walking along behind her. They made their way up the stairs until she heard a noise coming from upstairs from Nora's bedroom. Apparently her sister was home already.

She knew she could send Tyler home and she probably should do that, but she didn't want to. Surprisingly she felt safe around him, which was something she had not felt in a long time.

She held up a finger, telling him to be quiet as she listened to see if Nora was going to leave her room or not, she was hoping for not, she knew Nora would freak out if she saw Tyler in the house.

The two stood still for a few seconds until they heard music coming from her bedroom. Imogen looked back at Tyler, who was standing on the step behind her, then whispered, "We're good. She's going to sleep."

Tyler nodded his head in agreement. He remembered how Nora would always play music to fall asleep or when he was over she would play it so they could make out and no one would hear, but since he knew she wasn't dating anyone, he assumed she was going to sleep.

Imogen and Tyler continued to make their way up the stairs and then down the hallway until they got to Imogen's bedroom door. As they walked into the room, Tyler glanced around as she removed her shoes and tossed them into a trash can that was under the pink colored vanity.

It had been awhile since he had been in her bedroom, but everything looked the same. The walls were still painted a light pink color with a few girly pictures in pink and black frames hanging on the walls, as well as pictures of her, family and friends all around the room. On the right beside the vanity was a black queen size bed with a light pink comforter trimmed in black with different color pink pillows on top of the bed.

"Your room still looks the same." Tyler stated, as he walked over to the other side of the room and sat down on the cheetah printed chair across from the bed.

"Yeah it hasn't changed much since the last time you were in it." Imogen added as she walked over to the black dresser on the other side of the room.

Even though he dated Nora on and off for years, he had not been in Imogen's room since he was twelve and she had her first boy/girl birthday party. He couldn't help but think back to that night with a smile on his face.

During the party a group of them were in her room playing spin the bottle. He had secretly been hoping all night that the bottle would point to her, then when he finally got his wish her mom Lillian had knocked on the bedroom door, interrupting them before he could get his kiss. He never admitted it to anyone, but he had been disappointed that he never got to kiss her.

"You know what? I never did get that kiss from you." Tyler joked. Hoping she remembered that night too. When he heard her giggle he knew she did.

"Yeah, well, there will be no kissing in this room." Imogen pointed out, as she grabbed a pair of old cheerleading shorts and tank top from her dresser to sleep in.

"There are other rooms in this house you know." Tyler said without thinking, then felt his eyes widen in surprise. He couldn't believe he was actually flirting with Imogen.

He wasn't the only one in the room surprised; Imogen was also surprised by his flirty tone. She never told anyone, but at one time she did have a crush on Tyler when she was younger, but when nothing ever happened between them and he started to date Nora around the time Cole asked her out the crush had gone away.

But she couldn't deny that having him in her room and them talking about the almost kiss during spin the bottle was bringing back some old feelings.

She quickly pushed those feelings aside though, this was her sister's ex-boyfriend and she knew Nora would never forgive her and it wasn't worth ruining her relationship with her sister on Tyler the player. She knew his reputation and knew she would be just another notch on his bedpost.

"There will be no kissing in this house tonight or any other night." Imogen explained, not knowing what was going on down the hall in Nora's bedroom.

"So I guess that means no spin the bottle tonight huh?" Tyler asked with a smile. He was actually starting to like flirting with her. He liked the way her lips would curl up into a little smirk at his comments.

Imogen shook her head and chuckled at his question. She had no idea why he was saying these things to her tonight, maybe he was just trying to cheer her up or maybe he saw a chance at getting into her pants since she was vulnerable.

She would hate to think that is what he was doing even though she knew how he could be. She had heard enough stories about him from Nora and most of the cheerleading squad. Either way she decided the best thing to do would be to change the subject.

"I'm going to go change then grab some snacks. You want to watch a movie or something?" Imogen suggested.

"Sounds good." Tyler said.

"Ok. Just go ahead and pick out a movie, I'll be right back." Imogen said, as she pointed to the pink and black entertainment center beside him.

As Tyler stood up and began to look at her dvd collection, she left the bedroom and walked over to the bathroom she and Nora shared. After changing into her pajamas, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and felt her mood shift when she saw the bruise on her cheek from Cole.

She took a step closer to the mirror and turned her head to the side, seeing the dried blood on her scape from the cut when he slammed her head in the wall. She grabbed a hand towel from the shelf above the toilet and stuck it under the sink to wet it, then began to clean the old blood from the cut.

Luckily it had stopped bleeding and didn't seem to be as bad as she had thought. She would guess it would be healed in a day or so, but the bruises on her cheek and wrist would take a little longer. She would just have to cover them up somehow until they went away.

It wasn't that she was trying to protect Cole or anything; she just didn't want to talk about it and hear all the surprised or disbelieving gasps when people found out. She had a feeling most people wouldn't believe that the golden boy Cole would do something like that and the people who would believe it, like Nora, would just say 'I told you so.' As much as she probably deserved to hear that after all the chances she gave Cole, she really didn't want to hear it.

Not wanting to look at herself or the bruises anymore, she turned around and left the bathroom and began to make her way down the hall. She paused when she came to Nora's bedroom when she thought she heard another voice coming from inside the room.

She thought about knocking on the door until she realized it must have been the music playing and instead made her way down into the kitchen to grab a few cans of soft drinks, a couple bags of chips, a bag of candy and some cookies, then made her way back upstairs to her bedroom. She normally didn't pig out like this, but figured she deserved it.

"Did you find something?" Imogen asked Tyler, as she walked back into the room.

"This." Tyler answered, as he held up the case to a scary movie, causing Imogen to come to a stop when she saw what it was.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked, when he saw the look on her face.

"That was Cole's movie." Imogen answered, then added, "he brought it over one time and made me watch it, even though I hate scary movies."

"Sorry." Tyler said, as he laid the movie down, feeling bad for upsetting her.

"It's ok, you didn't know." Imogen said, then added, "plus we can watch it if you really want to. I'll just hide behind my pillow."

"No it's ok. We can watch something else." Tyler said, as he picked out the least girly movie he could find.

After putting in the movie, the two sat down on her bed and leaned against the headboard. Once they were both comfortable, she handed him two cans of soda then said, "here, I figured you could drink one and put the other one on your eye. Looks like Cole got you too."

"Not the first time I have had a bruise." Tyler said with a shrug like it was no big deal, thinking about the times his dad got angry at him about something.

"Not my first time either." Imogen said quietly, as she looked down at the comforter on her bed.

Tyler glanced over at her and saw the bruises on her wrist and arms from Cole grabbing her and of course the bruise on her cheek. He could also see a bruise or two on her back and shoulders from him pushing her into the brick wall. He felt his anger rise as he looked at each bruise again. He hated the thought of anyone laying their hands on her.

He cleared his throat, trying to get control of his emotions then asked carefully, "How-how many times has he hit you?"

"That was the first time he hit me, but not the first time he has been rough with me. He has grabbed me before or pushed me into something, but any bruises it did cause could be hidden from people." Imogen answered softly, as she continued to look down. She didn't want to see the pity look that she figured he was giving her.

"Has he uh... has he ever done anything else to you? Like you told him 'no' about something but he, you know, didn't stop?" Tyler asked quietly, dreading what her answer could be.  
Imogen didn't say anything as she shook her head, not wanting to talk about any of this anymore.

"Imogen, I am so sorry." Tyler whispered sincerely, his voice cracked slightly with emotion.

Imogen looked up at him in surprise then shook her head as she said, "it's ok Ty, you have no reason to apologize. Besides I don't need pity so please stop looking at me like that."

"It's not pity Gen. I just, God, I should have known. I should have stopped it, I should have saved you." Tyler explained.

"I don't need saving Tyler." Imogen pointed out.

"And you also don't need to be beat by someone who claims to love you." Tyler added.

"I know, I get that now. Trust me, I am done with him." Imogen said, trying to sound strong even though tears filled her eyes as she added, "I can't... no, I-I won't put up with it anymore. I just can't, it's not fair. I didn't do anything to deserve this Ty, I didn't."

Tyler wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her toward him as she began to cry. He lightly ran a hand up and down her back as he whispered words of comfort.

For the millionth time that night, he felt anger, not at her of course, but at Cole and even himself. He couldn't believe she had been treated this way right under his nose and he never knew it.

But now that he did know, he was going to make it his mission to protect her. He was never going to let something like this happen to her again as long as he lived.

* * *

**A/N**_** – We both want to thank you all for reading! ^_^ **_

_**Also, don't forget to check out Miss E Charlotte's fanfiction page! She's got really amazing stories!**_

_**We have been making banners to go along with this story, you can find them and more at SageLondyn . polyvore . com and at MissECharlotte . polyvore . com**_

**Please take a few moments to leave us a few lines in a review and let us know what you are thinking so far! We appreciate it so much!**


End file.
